Amourshipping The True Ending To XY&Z
by GrandMythology
Summary: A Rewrite of the final few episodes Of the Pokemon XY&Z anime, with Amourshipping elements.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys. This is my first fanfic. I was a big fan of the Pokemon XY and XY &Z anime. At the beginning of the anime I thought the writers were going in the direction of ending Ash's adventure and having him finally win a league and achieve his dream. (SPOILERS) Even though things didn't end that way the ending was still really satisfying, especially in terms of Ash and Serena and Amourshipping which I am also a big fan of. This story will basically tell how, in my opinion, the XY anime should have ended starting with Ash Greninja's final battle with Mega Charizard. I do not own Pokemon.**

The final round of the Kalos league had nearly reached its climax. Mega Charizard had just taken a massive hit from Greninja's Arial ace move. However Charizard managed to get back up.

"This is it" Ash thought to himself. He had come all this way, battled through countless battles, and now he had a chance to finally win a league.

Ash smiled and said to Alain "No matter who wins or loses no hard feelings". Prepare to take me and Greninja on at full power, Greninja use cut!

Greninja sprinted towards Charizard at top speed, with shining blades appearing in its hands.

"Charizard, dragon claw. Charizards claws glowed green and he flew towards Greninja, both of them colliding with each other. Greninja and Charizard both slashed at each other, but each slash was deflected off the opposite attack.

Ash yelled "Water Shuriken" as Alain yelled "Thunder Punch".

Charizard's claws exploded into electrical energy and started furiously slashing at Greninja. However Greninja drew his water shuriken and was using it to deflect the coming thunder punches.

"He's taking on thunder punch with water shuriken" the announcer yelled with excitement.

"What intimidating offence and defensive abilities".

The sparing continued with neither Charizard or Greninja giving up. Suddenly Greninja, using Water Shuriken, struck Charizard's claws directly, causing the thunder punch move to shatter. Charizard was defenceless. Greninja, with all its might slashed the water shuriken across Charizards front, propelling Charizard backwards several feet.

"Lets go, water shuriken"

Ash yelled as he threw his left arm into the air gesturing holding the water shuriken. Greninja thrust his hand into the air, holding the spinning shuriken. Suddenly the shuriken began to glow and it suddenly grew about three times bigger, and it had the appearance of spinning disk of energy. Alain gasped in surprise.

"Blast burn" Alain yelled. Charizard threw its fists into the ground causing the ground to break apart into fiery energy and directed its way towards Greninja. Greninja, with all its might, threw the giant water shuriken towards Charizard. Both attacks missed colliding and continued towards their targets. Before anyone knew exactly what was going on the attacks collided with there targets. There was a loud bang and smoke filled the stadium. Everyone stared into the smoke trying to see what the result was, holding their breath in anticipation. The smoke slowly cleared revealing both Pokemon still standing.

Then they both pitched forward.

They both caught themselves. They were still standing.

"Unbelievable" the announcer yelled into his microphone.

"Even after two of there most powerful attacks neither one of them is giving up".

Back in the crowds Sawyer, Clemont, Serena, Bonnie, Tierno, Shauna and Trevor were watching intently.

"That was a close, one" Tierno said with a hint of relief in his voice.

"It's incredible" Trevor said.

"Even after being hit by two water shrunkens Charizard just keeps on withstanding them". Clemont was practically shaking with excitement.

"Charizard is just so powerful" he said.

"Greninja got lucky that time". "Why is that" Bonnie asked. Clemont smiled.

"It's quite simple, Blast burn is a fire type move and Greninja is a water type, meaning Greninja has a natural resistance to fire type moves".

Bonnie nodded and turned to Serena. However Bonnie noticed Serena had a look of worry on her face. She remembered seeing her like that at the beginning of Ash's gym battle against Grant, and during his gym battles against Wulfric. Though, Bonnie didn't need to ask her what was wrong. She knew exactly what was troubling her. She knew Serena cared a lot about Ash and worried about him all time, and not only that but knowing about her feelings for him as well. But she decided not to pry.

Serena was definitely on the edge of her seat about the battle. "Come on Ash, you can do this". She held her hand up to the ribbon that Ash had given to her during the Comorine city festival. "I believe in you".

"Did you say something", Bonnie asked her.

Serena immediately went bright red.

"Nothing" she said quickly".

She quickly recomposed herself, but she still couldn't help worry about Ash. He had come all this way, and winning this battle would mean everything to him. She didn't think she could stand to see him lose. She refocused on the battle, were both Charizard and Greninja seemed to be regaining their composure as well. Even though she knew Ash and Greninja had grown a lot stronger since there last battle with Alain, they had never been able to beat Alain. At this point they both seemed to be equally matched in this battle. She mentally slapped herself. She couldn't afford to be thinking like that. Ash needed there full support.

"Go, Ash" she yelled, standing up from her seat.

"Do you really think Greninja can beat Charizard" Shauna said.

"Of course he can" Serena said with a proud look on her face. "Ash never gives up until the end, and that's exactly why he's going to win".

Back on the battlefield Greninja and Charizard were both recovering from the last attack. Ash couldn't believe that Charizard had withstood the water shuriken attack. Not only that he could feel Greninja while not severely affected by the attack, it had definitely caused Greninja to take quite a bit of damage. Alain looked and felt almost as surprised as Ash. He clearly thought that blast burn would have finished the battle for good. Alain and Ash prepared for the next moves.

"Charizard, use steel wing", Alain commanded. Charizard immediately took flight and sped towards Greninja with its wings glowing metallic silver.

"Greninja, water shuriken" Ash commanded. Greninja grabbed the shuriken on its back and flung it at Charizard. However Charizard re positioned itself and its wing cut right through the shuriken. Charizard flew by Greninja at top speed, but continued circling the stadium. Ash knew what Alain was doing. Most of Greninja's attacks wouldn't reach that height, and even if they could Charizard could easily dodge them as when he was in the air, Charizard was just, if not faster than Greninja. Ash tensed. He knew he was going to have to find another way to take down Charizard, but before he could come up with a new strategy, Alain called out, "Use, flamethrower!"

A column of blue flame erupted from Charizards mouth and the beam of fire started incinerating parts of the field as it got closer to Greninja.

"Greninja, run" Ash commanded. Greninja immediately began running across the battlefield, franticly dodging the flamethrower attack.

"Jump and use water shuriken" Ash yelled. Greninja turned around, leapt into the air and threw the disk of water, colliding with the flamethrower. The collision caused a massive explosion of smoke, which blanketed the field and blinding Greninja.

"Keep your guard up Greninja" Ash yelled. The smoke started to clear, but as soon as it did Charizard came diving down on top of Greninja.

"USE THUNDERPUCNH!" Alain yelled. Charizards electrical fists collided with Greninja sending Greninja, tumbling back, and stopping only a few yards from Ash. Ash flinched in pain and fell to his knees holding his arm in pain.

"Ash!" Serena yelled in alarm. Clemont and Bonnie, and the rest were looking at Ash with worried expressions.

Ash was breathing heavily. Greninja slowly got back to its feet but seemed to be limping on its left leg. Ash managed to stand up as well, but he felt the pain of Greninja's injury. "Can you still battle, Greninja" Ash asked with obvious pain his voice. Greninja turned towards Ash and nodded.

Even though, Greninja could still battle, Ash knew Greninja wouldn't last much longer, but how was he going to win now. Charizard, though visibly exhausted, was still fighting at nearly full strength. Ash was at a complete loss for ideas. He knew that head on attacks weren't working, but what would.

"Come, on Ash, you can do this" said Serena under her breath.

Ash knew he was in a near hopeless situation. Greninja wouldn't be able to take another hit, and even with his most powerful attack, Charizard would dodge it, as it could out manoeuvre any of the attacks when flying.

"That's it".

Ash smiled and faced Alain. "Alain, this has been one of the hardest battles I have ever faced, but it's time for battle come to a close" Ash said. "Because by the end of this next round this battle will be over". Ash pulled his cap back. "This is everything Greninja and I have got".

"Greninja, run at Charizard" Ash commanded.

"Charizard use steel wing" Alain yelled. Once again Charizard took flight and zoomed towards Greninja, its wings once again glowing silver.

"Greninja, dodge it" yelled Ash. Greninja almost instantly ducked underneath Charizard as he flew over him. Charizard landed on the field directly opposite Greninja.

"Run at him again!" Ash commanded. Greninja sprinted towards Charizard again. Charizard looked ready to defend it's self.

"Now jump". Greninja, with lightning speed, jumped, and to everyone's shock, before Alain could call out another move, landed directly on Charizard. Greninja clung onto Charizard by the neck. Immediately Charizard attempted to shake Greninja off.

"Don't let go" commanded Ash. Charizard still desperately trying to get Greninja off, started using flamethrower attacks, which weren't helping at all.

"Charizard" Alain yelled.

"Fly to try and shake Greninja off". Charizard took to the sky, but with Greninja on him, meant Charizard didn't have the best control. Because of this both Greninja and Charizard were flying higher over the arena.

"Hang on Greninja" Ash pleaded in his mind.

"Just a little longer".

"DIVE" Alain yelled. Charizard Immediately nose dived. Even with this happening Greninja was still holding onto Charizards back.

"This was it" Ash thought. If this went wrong, not only would he lose, but Greninja would be seriously hurt.

"GRENINJA USE CUT" Ash yelled. Greninja, let go and at once slashed Charizards wings with the deadly move. Charizard roared in pain and lost control, crashing onto the battlefield. Greninja landed on Ash's side of the field, luckily feet first.

Charizard, slowly, got to its feet. Charizard had clearly taken heavy damage on impact but still had enough energy to keep battling. Although Charizard was still able to battle, Alain looked noticeably worried. Ash couldn't tell if he was worried about losing or Charizard.

"Alright, Greninja, dash at Charizard again" Ash commanded. Greninja sprinted at Charizard, but just as it looked like they were about to collide again, Greninja ran past him, and started running around Charizard at top speed. Charizard was hopelessly turning its head to find out were Greninja was, but Greninja was too fast.

"Now use double team!" Ash commanded. Multiple copies of Greninja started appearing, all running around Charizard. Gradually these copies started moving closer and closer to Charizard. Alain knew there was one attack he could use that would win the match for him.

"CHARIZARD, USE BLAST BURN ON THE AREA AROUND YOU!" Alain yelled. Charizard, with all its might smash its fists into the ground, causing the entire area around him to transform into an inferno of flames. Right before all the Greninja's were about to be hit by the attack Ash yelled at the last second

"JUMP". Due to the attack there was a lot of smoke but not enough, to block out what was happening. Greninja was in the air, having dodged the still happening attack, nearly directly over Charizard.

"Charizard, dodge". Charizard tried to fly away to avoid Greninja's upcoming attack, but he flinched in pain.

Charizard couldn't fly.

"That's why Ash used cut on Charizards wings", Clemont yelled in excitement.

"Charizard could only dodge Greninja's attacks because of the speed it can go when flying, and not only that Ash got Alain to use blast burn because he knew if Greninja could jump over it, he could have the opportunity to land a direct hit on Charizard because Charizard would be trapped in its own attack, because he couldn't fly over the blast burn.

"Let's try this one last time Greninja" Ash yelled. "WATER SHURIKEN!"

Greninja flung the shuriken over his head where it once again grew into a giant, orange disk of energy, and with all its might flung it directly at Charizard.

Frantically Alain yelled "CHARIZARD USE DRAGON CLAW", but before Charizard could strike at the shuriken, the shuriken struck Charizard. There was a massive explosion that sent a massive amount of smoke into the crowds and the rest of the stadium.

The smoke soon began to clear.

Greninja landed on Ash's side of the field, still standing.

The smoke cleared on Alain's side of the field, revealing Charizard still standing.

Charizard grunted,

then fell over on its front.

There was only silence in the stadium, which lasted for a few seconds.

"CHARIZARD IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, THEREFOR THE WINNER OF THE MATCH, AND THE KALOS LEAGUE IS ASH KETCHUM FROM PALLET TOWN".

The crowd erupted in cheers.

Ash stood there, with a blank look on his face.

"Did I just win"?

Ash then immediately broke into laughter. "We did it Greninja" Ash yelled at Greninja as he ran up to him pikachu following soot, and high-fiving each other as Greninja changed back into its normal form.

"Ash won!" Bonnie squealed. All of the others had risen from there seats clapping and cheering. "That was tuff battle, but even when it seemed hopeless Ash managed to pull through" Clemont cheered. Trevor and Tierno, were both cheering. "Ash, managed to defeat one of the strongest Mega Pokemon" Trevor said excitedly. Trevor smiled saying, "That's Ash for you; he always manages to surprise us. Shauna was clapping and yelling congratulations.

Serena was crying tears of joy for Ash. She knew that Ash would never give up and now he had finally managed to take his next step towards his dream.

Ash was still overwhelmed by what had just happened. He had actually won a league. This was everything he had been aiming for since he began his journey in Kalos, in fact since he began his entire journey.

"Ash" Alain said, while he and Charizard were walking towards Ash, but surprisingly calm and content.

"That was a great battle". He held out his and towards Ash "The better trainer won today". Alain and ash then shook hands.

"I look forward to the day we battle again, and until that day comes savour this victory while you can, Alain said jokingly. Ash smiled and turned to Greninja and Pikachu who was on his soldier.

"We did this together".

"This isn't just my victory" Ash said. "It's ours".

With the battle over, Ash and pikachu were sitting in the, what can be called a waiting room, for the awards ceremony to begin. Ash was still going over everything that had happened in his head. It all seemed so surreal, like he couldn't believe he had actually won. With Ash sitting there for so long without saying word, made pikachu curious.

"Pika, Pikachu" Pikachu said, climbing back onto Ash's shoulder.

"What" Ash said before snapping backing to reality.

"Oh sorry, Pikachu" Ash apologised.

"No, nothings wrong, I was just…. Remembering some things" Ash said quietly.

"Pika" Pikachu said, telling him to continue.

Ash smiled. Then he reached into his backpack that was on the floor, and pulled out a Pokeball. However this Pokeball had a small lightning bolt on the top part of the ball. Pikachu recognised it as his Pokeball. Ash had never used it, so Pikachu wondered why Ash had taken the ball to Kalos with him.

"You remember what happened, the day we started our journey" Ash said under his breath.

Of course Pikachu remembered, how could either of them could forget. When the two had started their journey things had got off to a pretty rocky start. Not only would Pikachu not listen to Ash but didn't like him at all. It was only when Ash put himself in harm's way to protect Pikachu was when they truly became friends.

"I can't believe it's been that long since then" Ash said still whispering. "We're a lot stronger than we were back then, and we're going to become even stronger".

Just as Ash was saying this, the door opened and all of Ash's friends entered.

"That was an incredible battle" Tierno congratulated Ash.

"You and Greninja were amazing" Bonnie said.

"That final attack was extraordinary" Clemont commented. "Greninja's shuriken seemed to increase in power, the more you two were pushed to the limit".

Ash stood up looking proud and confident. "Honestly I still can't believe I won". "There were points in the battle I wasn't sure I was going to pull through"

"Don't think like that, the important thing is that you won in the end" Shauna said indignantly.

"You're right" Ash said looking up. He quickly noticed Serena standing there. It looked like she had been crying. Ash was about to ask her if something was wrong, but out of nowhere she flung her arms around him silently sobbing.

"I knew you could do it Ash" she said.

Ash was quite taken aback by this. He had never seen Serena act like this before.

Everyone in the room looked rather uncomfortable. Serena quickly realised what she was doing at quickly with drew, wiping her eyes and smiling, also with a massive blush on her face.

"So Ash, now that you've won a league, what's your next step" Bonnie asked curiously.

Ash laughed. "Honestly, I'm not sure what my next step is". He then looked at everyone in the room. "But I know what I do next; it will push me forward even further".

Ash stood on the podium smiling proudly, with Pikachu and all his other Pokemon standing behind him. All his friends in the audience were applauding him, along with everyone in the crowd.

Diantha walked up to the podium and handed Ash the Kalos League Trophy.

"Ash, you have created an incredible bond with your Pokemon, you have shown everyone here the strength and capacity of a true trainer, and for that I applaud you".

"Thank You" Ash said.

"And Ash, you have now won the right to face me in a battle".

Ash starred in surprise.

Diantha smiled. "The battle will take place in the Kalos League Hall of Fame, and the victor shall become the Pokemon Champion of Kalos".

"Do you accept".

Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder.

"You're on Diantha" Ash said. "And may the best trainer win".

Ash turned back to the applauding crowd and look down at his trophy. It said 'Kalos League Victor'. Ash looked back up into the crowd, at his friends, then back down at his Pokemon.

"Thank you, all of you".

"I couldn't have done this without any of you".

Suddenly there was a sound of an explosion, as what looked like giant tree like tentacles started bursting through the walls of the stadium. They began rapping around, and destroying parts of the stadium. People screamed in terror and started to flee. It lasted about a minute, for the tentacles to stop moving.

Ash panicked and looked frantically around the stadium to find his friends. Luckily he spotted them in the crowd of people who had stood up from there seats.

Ash stared in shock at the tentacles and the damage they had done.

What was going on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, here is the second chapter to my story. This chapter will contain more original content and takes place after episode 45 of XY &Z. **

A lot had happened over the past few days.

The havoc in the Kalos League arena had been caused by team flare trying to harness the power of The second Zygarde cell. This caused massive vines to flood Lumiose city. However Team Flare succeeded in bring forth Zygarde's semi form under there control. But with the help of Alain and Ash and everyone else they were able to regain control of Zygarde. However Team Flare's leader Lysander had escaped and had managed to create a clone of Zygarde's second form. This led to a final confrontation in front of the sun dial where the two Zygarde cells transformed into their final form and defeated Lysander.

With Team Flare stopped everyone set about rebuilding Lumiose City. It was during this time that Serena began to wonder about what she was going to do next. She then decided to put on a performance for everyone in Lumiose to lift everyone's spirits. When the performance was over everyone had to leave as they had places they needed to be. However Ash, having not needing to go anywhere asked if Serena wanted to go with him. Both of them spent some time together walking through the now rebuilt part of Lumiose. Serena though was still in a major conflict with herself and Ash noticed this. He then said they should have a battle. They both head to the battlefield where Ash and Clemont had their first battle. During the battle Ash explains how the bond between her and her Pokemon is what will continue to make them stronger, and that he'll always be cheering her on. Serena having made her decision, calls Polermo and declines her offer to train her, explaining she wanted to find her own way. When Serena returned to Clemonts house where the others were, she told them how she was going to Hoen to participate in Pokemon contests which the others congratulate her for.

It would be the on the very next day they would leave Lumiose City and head for the Kalos League Hall of Fame.

"What do you mean, you aren't coming" Ash said in surprise.

It was the next morning at Clemonts house where Serena, Clemont, Bonnie and Ash were meant to head out to the hall of fame. This however had been interrupted during breakfast were Clement had received word from the Lumiose gym that there were still some problems with the power in the building. Clemont then had to awkwardly explain that he couldn't go with them.

"I'm sorry Ash, but i need to get the Gym in full working order before i leave it again" said Clemont disappointedly.

"How long should it take to get fixed" Serena asked.

Clemont looked down.

"It could take me about a day or two".

A silence fell over the table. Bonnie then piped up.

"Is it possible we could wait till tomorrow when we can all leave together".

"Im sorry Bonnie", Clemont put in, "but the match between Ash and Diantha are scheduled in 3 days, we wouldn't make it in time".

Ash at last spoke up.

"Don't worry guys, i'm sure i can get in contact with Diantha and we can reschedule".

"No" Clemont said at once. "I'm not going to let you miss your match or try and reschedule it over something i should have fixed by now".

Silence once again fell over the table. Then Clemont suddenly got an idea.

"Don't you guys worry, i'll meet you at the hall of fame in a few days".

Serena commented saying, "It seems like a fair idea, but how are you going to make it there in time".

Clemont responded, "i'll find a way, you guys just worry about getting yourselves there".

"I'll stay with Clemont and help him out at the gym", Bonnie said.

Clemont looked over at Bonnie in surprise.

"Wouldn't you much rather go with Ash and Serena, than help me out"

Bonnie smiled and responded, "It's okay Clemont, with my help you should be able to get the work done a lot faster, than we can get to the hall of fame".

"I highly doubt that" Clemont said smirking. Bonnie pouted in annoyance.

"Then it's settled then", Ash spoke up.

"Me and Serena will head to the hall of fame and meet you two up there".

"Agreed" Clemont said after thinking it over for a while.

After finishing their food, the group left Clemonts house for the Lumiose gym, which they had to pass to reach the correct route they wanted to take. Once they reached the Lumiose gym, they said their goodbyes.

"Are you sure you guys will be able to handle the situation" asked Ash.

Bonnie quickly responded "We told you, we'll be fine, stop worrying about us".

"You two look out for each other as well" Clemont said.

Serena blushed lightly but not enough to be noticed.

"You bet we will" Ash said,

"Right Serena".

Serena smiled at Ash.

"Of course we'll look out for each other".

And with that the two groups went their separate ways and Ash with Pikachu along with Serena at his side began the long trek to Santalune city.

Serena suddenly seemed to realise just then that she would be alone with Ash for the next two days at the most. This realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Of course she had been alone with Ash before on multiple occasions but never for this length of time. She found herself glancing at Ash's hand. She then had a slight urge to reach out and hold his hand, but the thought of that made her feel even more embarrassed than the way she was currently. She tried to push the thought out of mind. But at the same time the thought of holding his hand gave her a nice warm feeling in her chest.

"Hey Serena" Ash asked out of nowhere. Serena quickly snapped back to reality.

"What route do we need to take".

Serena blinked, then she realized she hadn't explained to Ash how they were getting to the Hall of Fame. She pulled out her tablet and pulled up the map.

"Let's see" she said to herself. She quickly found what she was looking for.

"The quickest route to get to the hall of fame" she explained to Ash, "is to take route 4 which will take us back to Santalune city, and then take route 22 from there which will lead us to the hall of fame".

"Well then let's get going" Ash said enthusiastically.

The two entered through the entrance to route 4, and continued on in relative silence. This went on for a while until Serena broke the ice.

"So Ash, what strategies are you going to use in your battle".

To Serena's surprise Ash answered "To be honest i haven't really come up with a proper strategy yet".

Serena stared at Ash in surprise.

"That's really not like you Ash" Serena commented.

"It's not that i haven't got any plans for the battle", Ash chuckled slightly, but with everything that's happened over the past few days i really haven't had a lot of time to think about the match".

Ash wasn't wrong, after everything that had happened from the end of the league to the attack by team flare, it made sense why Ash didn't put a lot of thought into the battle yet.

"Well, there's still plenty of time, for you to come up with a plan" Serena said.

"I know, but theres alot i have to go through to come up with a strategy, especially for a battle with a trainer like Diantha, I honestly don't know if i could come up with a good enough strategy with the limited time i have" Ash said, a look of concern on his face.

Serena quickly stood in front of Ash, stopping him.

"Ash i promise you", looking deep into his eyes, "you will come up with a way to win against Diantha, I know you will".

Ash laughed slightly. "What makes you so sure".

Serena responded smiling, "Because you always do".

Ash's face went blank for a moment before laughing again.

"Your right, i can't afford to be thinking like this now".

Serena laughed silently as well, as they continued walking along the route.

They continued on well into the rest of the day. They had to pass through a relatively thick forest, but due to the winding paths they ended up spending most of the time trying to figure out what direction to go in. Eventually the sun started to recede and both of them realized they were going to have to set up camp for the night. They both soon reached a clearing which they chose to stay at. This was when Serena opened up her bag and realized they had forgotten the other tent. She quickly turned back to Ash who had set up the other tent they had.

"Ash, we only have one tent, i must have forgotten it" Serena said clearly embarrassed by her mistake.

Ash looked a little confused at first and responded, "It doesn't matter, all the stuff we have can fit in one tent".

Now it was Serena's turn to be confused, then she quickly realized that Ash was talking about sleeping outside like they usually did on clear nights. With that issue out of the way Serena began setting up the table and food Clemont had prepared as well as food for all of their Pokemon, while Ash and all of his Pokemon started putting some of Ash's ideas to work. When all the food was properly prepared Serena and Ash sat down at the table while all of the Pokemon dashed to there food bowls.

While eating Ash brought up the subject of how long it would take to get to Santalune city from were they currently were.

"Now that we have found the right direction, we should be there by midday tomorrow" Serena said while quickly checking her tablet.

"We should probably stay in the Santalune Pokemon center, then that will give us a full day to make it all the way to the hall of fame" Ash responded.

By the time they had finished their meal and called back there Pokemon, the sun had already fallen and heavy clouds had appeared over the sky. Just as Ash and Serena were ready for bed with there sleeping bags laid out across the grass, a loud clap of thunder echoed through the sky.

"It sounds like it's about to rain any moment now" Ash commented.

Serena looked up at the sky, as she began to feel drops of rain coming down.

"We'll have to sleep in the tent" Ash said out of nowhere.

This statement caused Serena to turn a bright shade of red. She wasn't sure if she had herd Ash correctly, though she didn't have enough time to think fully about the situation as rain started coming down hard. They managed to get all there stuff inside the tent dry, and they both laid beside each other in there sleeping bags to rest. Ash and Pikachu fell asleep almost instantly, most likely due to full stomachs. But Serena couldn't sleep. The whole idea that she was sharing a tent with Ash just felt so surreal to her. It's not that she didn't like it, but the fact Ash just didn't seem to see the undertone of the situation, made Serena feel a bit awkward. It didn't help that thunder was clapping every five minutes. Everytime it happened she flinched slightly. While this did frighten her slightly, at the same time she felt a sense of safety with Ash sleeping next to her. That put her mind at ease and she gradually dosed off.

She woke up in what seemed like to her a few moments. Though she could tell she had been asleep for a while as the rain and thunder had stopped. She turned over on her side, facing the direction Ash was sleeping. But when she looked in that direction, she saw Ash was no longer by her side. She quickly realized Ash was no longer in the tent with her. She sat up and noticed the opening to the tent had been opened. She got out of her bag and peeped out of the tent. She saw Ash sitting on a rock looking up at the sky. She noticed that the sky had become clear as the moon was now shining directly onto the clearing. She stood up out of the tent and slowly walked over to where Ash was sitting.

"I'm sorry, i didn't mean to wake you" Ash spoke before Serena had even reached his side.

"Is everything okay" she asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine" Ash responded. But Serena could sense Ash was distracted by something on his mind".

"Ash", she said sitting next to him. "I told you once that if something was bothering you, you can talk to me".

Ash sighed while looking up at the moon.

"I was just thinking about the match" Ash spoke silently.

"Is it something to do with the strategy you've come up with".

"No, I….".

Ash sighed in exacerbation. Serena waited for him to respond.

"Serena, i've been traveling for a long time now" Ash speaking at last.

"I've been to so many regions, met so many people, and i've caught and befriended a lot of Pokemon". "I had never won an official league until now".

Ash fell silent again. Serena placed a hand on his shoulder encouraging him to continue.

"Now, I have the chance to become a champion, and… i'm excited but nervous at the same time…. of losing this chance".

Serena turned away and looked at the stars.

"Ash", she said softly.

"On the day of my second performance, at the back of my mind I had a feeling of doubt about if I could win a showcase, and when my costume got damaged i nearly let that feeling take over".

She turned back to Ash.

"But then I remembered what you taught me, about never giving up until it's over, and that helped me regain control of the situation".

"I learned that worrying about what could happen or what could go wrong, would only push me back".

"I had to focus on the moment at hand and to keep trying no matter what".

"Pika, Pikachu" Pikachu piped up jumping onto Ash's shoulder.

Ash smiled and stood up.

"Thanks Serena, i needed that".

"I think we better go gets some sleep" Ash said turning around and looking at Serena.

"Yes we probably should" she responded".

All three of them went back to the tent. Like last time Ash and Pikachu fell asleep almost instantly, leaving Serena alone with her thoughts. She then made a fleeting decision. She moved till she was right beside Ash.

She then began to doze off. The last thing she thought before drifting off was moments like that with Ash only made her like him more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter 3 of my story. The reason the first 2 chapters were uploaded so quickly was due to me completing both of them before uploading.**

"It should be over that hill"

After what may have been for Serena one of the best rests she had in a while, both Ash and Serena had packed up in the early morning and continued towards Santalune city. They had got up especially early due to Ash wanting to make sure they got there by midday at best, so they could have enough time plan their next move. Ash, though not having mentioned it, wanted to take a rest at the Pokemon centre and then continue on to the hall of fame on the very same day. He hadn't brought it up yet, because he wasn't sure if they would get there with a good enough time left in the day, and if they would have enough energy to continue on. But as luck would have it they managed to make it to the top of the hill overlooking Santalune city just as it hit 12 o'clock.

"We made it" Serena said sighing in exhaustion.

It had been a long time since they had been in Santalune city. For Serena it contained a lot of memories she held dear to herself. It was the place she had reunited with Ash, were she saw first hand his impressive battling skills. And above all it was were he had asked her if she wanted to travel with him, Clemont and Bonnie. And now they were back near the end of their journey. It somewhat seemed to be fitting for the one place they had to go through to get to their destination. But at the same time it reminded Serena of how her travels with Ash were nearing the end. That thought made her feel sad.

"Come on let's go" Ash said as they both began to run down the path leading to the city entrance.

The city itself seemed to be pretty unchanged from the last time they had been there. Though Serena did notice there were alot more people around.

"I wonder why there are so many people around" Ash commented.

Serena also noticed a lot of people putting up decorations, and setting up stools.

"It looks like an event is taking place here" she responded.

They soon entered the town square, were they continued to see people setting up lights and other things. However their thoughts were quickly interrupted by a voice coming up behind them.

"Ash, long time no see".

Both Ash and Serena turned around to see the Santalune City gym leader Viola walking towards them holding her camera.

"Hey Viola, I should have known we'd run into you" Ash said as he walked up to Viola.

"Hold on just a second" Viola said as she quickly turned to the left and snapped a picture of a trainer and Pokemon hanging up some of the lights.

She turned back to Ash and Serena, who had joined Ash's side.

"Sorry, but I couldn't pass up a perfect shot".

"It's okay" Serena said, "it's nice to see you again".

"Nice to see you both as well, oh and Ash congratulations for Winning the Kalos League, I can only assume your heading for the hall of fame".

"Right, we were planning on taking route 22 to get there, but we had to come through Santalune City first".

"I see" Viola said smiling.

She then asked "Are you planning on staying here for the festival".

"Well" Ash said scratching the back of his head. "We didn't know there was a festival going on until we got here, and we haven't yet decided what we're doing next" Ash said as he turned to Serena.

"By the way what is the festival about" Serena asked Viola. "I didn't think Santalune City celebrated any festivals".

"Well it was kind of decided to do at the last minute" Viola said looking over the crowds of people walking through the streets. "It's celebrating the end of the team flare conflict and the rebuilding of Lumiose city".

She turned back to Ash and Serena. "The town officials thought a festival would be the perfect way to lift everyone's spirits after what happened".

Viola looked like she was about to continue but her watched buzzed.

"Oh sorry you two but I need to get back to the gym, it was nice seeing you both again".

She turned to leave but before she did she said "I hope you two stay for the festival, everyone here is pulling out all the stops for it".

She then dashed off in the direction of the gym, leaving Ash, Serena and Pikachu in the square. They probably would have looked around the town a little longer but Ash's stomach abruptly rumbled.

"Sorry" Ash said embarrassed.

"We should probably go to the Pokemon centre and get some food" Serena said giggling.

Ash laughed "Yeah we probably should". And with that they both headed to the Pokemon Center.

After entering the Pokemon centre and figuring out what rooms were available, unfortunately there were only 2 bedrooms for one left at both at opposite ends of the centre. There Pokemon had been healed thanks to Nurse Joy, and the three went to get something to eat.

"So what are we going to do now" Serena brought up while eating.

"Honestly, I was hoping we could continue traveling to the hall after we've finished" Ash said. He then took a bite out of the burger he was eating. "But I don't think I have the energy to make it there today". Serena wanted to get to the hall but also really wanted to see the festival that night. And she had to agree on the fact that neither of them had the energy to keep traveling for the rest of the day.

"There are only two rooms available, so if we're going to stay we should probably get them now before they're gone" Serena said.

"I can go get them now" Ash said getting up. "And after that I was hoping to get some training done".

"Ok, and then we can go and look around the festival in the evening" Serena said. She then realized that she had asked Ash to do something for her that might affect how long he has to train. She was about to bring this up but Ash said "It's a plan" and went to get the rooms.

After they had sorted out rooms, Serena went up to her room, while Ash and Pikachu went to the outdoor battlefield.

"Greninja I chose you" said Ash releasing Greninja from it's Pokeball alongside Pikachu.

"Alright you two, i've been thinking more about a strategy to use against Diantha" Ash told the two Pokemon who were listen intently.

"A way we can prepare to battle Gardevoirs speed is for you Pikachu, to battle against Greninja". Pikachu and Greninja both looked a little confused.

"The way this will help" Ash continued, "is the fact Greninja is just as fast as Gardevoir, so battling against Greninja, who will be going at top speed, will allow us to adapt more to Gardevoirs speed and Diantha's battle style. Both Greninja and Pikachu nodded in approval, and they both positioned themselves on the battlefield.

"Ok Greninja, the only thing i need you to worry about is to keep dodging the incoming attacks" Ash called across the field. Greninja in response took a defensive stance.

"Alright Pikachu, use quick attack"!

Pikachu dashed at full speed towards Greninja, but right before the move made contact, Greninja completely dodged the move by moving to the right. This caused Pikachu to dash right past Greninja.

Pikachu quickly altered direction and jumped backwards, turned around in mid air in to get the best view of Greninja.

"Greninja use water shuriken"!

Greninja quickly formed a large water shuriken and threw it at Pikachu.

"Pikachu deflect with Iron tail"!

Pikachu quickly used Iron tail in air, deflecting the shuriken, leaving Greninja not enough time to counter with another attack.

"Use iron tail again"!

Pikachu tail glowed silver and landed a direct hit on Greninja. The impact sent Greninja flying back, before recovering it's defensive stance.

Ash thought he might have found a brief opening for an attack he could use against Gardevoir. When Pikachu deflected the water shuriken, it gave them an opening to attack Gardevoir and hopefully not have enough time to dodge or counter attack.

They continued with this battle technique and Ash was pretty confident that this could work against Diantha. After attempting this several times, Ash called out Goodra.

"Goodra, since you can use Bide I was hoping to test if it could be used effectively against some of Gardevoir's stronger moves" Ash told Goodra. Ash took note that one of the strongest moves he can use against against Goodra to test Bide, would be Greninja's most powerful water Shuriken, but was hesitant to try this as he wasn't sure if the move could end up hurting Goodra.

"I have an idea, but im worried that it could cause a lot of damage" Ash spoke to Goodra.

"I don't want to attempt it if it could cause you to get hurt".

But Goodra put its hand on Ash's shoulder reassuringly. Ash though still a little concerned, decided to restrain the situation by not using Ash Greninja form to limit the power of the attack. Goodra took position on the battlefield opposite Greninja.

"Okay Greninja, I need you to use Water shuriken at full power". Ash turned to Goodra. "I need you to use Bide to resist the attacks. Both nodded and Goodra took to the defense while Greninja prepared to attack.

"Greninja use Water shuriken"!

Greninja generated a massive Water Shuriken throwing it at Goodra. Goodra used Bide to resist the attack. As the smoke cleared, Goodra was still standing though it had taken a large amount of damage. Ash wasn't sure if Goodra could take another attack. He was about to call Greninja off, but Goodra gave Ash a look of reassurance and to continue. Ash called to Greninja to use another Water shuriken. Greninja threw another Shuriken at Goodra. Yet again Goodra was able to resist and Bide now having fully powered up, blasted a bright beam of the same power as the two water shurikens at Greninja. The was a blinding blast of heat and smoke. Greninja jumped out of the smoke showing he was still standing though definitely had taken a heavy amount of damage.

Ash knew this was a step in the right direction, but knew he would have to try a more effective method against Gardevoir.

During this time, Serena had returned to the main part of the Pokemon centre to make a call. She dialed the number for the Lumiose Gym. After a few seconds Clemont came into view on the monitor.

"Hi Serena, where are you calling from" Clemont said.

Serena responded "From the Santalune Pokemon center, we just made it here this morning, how are things going at the gym".

Clemont expression brightened slightly. "He've been able to restore most of the power to the gym, in about a few more hours we should have the entire power back and fully running, then we should be able to get going to the hall".

"How are you going to get to the hall in time" Serena asked.

"Professor Sycamore just got back to his lab and he's offered to give us a lift to the hall" Clemont responded. "How are things going with you and Ash".

"Ash is training right now" Serena said, "We've also decided to stay in Santalune City for the night as there's a festival going on here".

"Sounds good, so i guess we'll see you at the Hall of Fame tomorrow".

"Yes we will" Serena responded. They both said goodbye and hung up.

Serena was about to head outside to watch Ash train, but then a thought crossed her mind. She instead dialed her home. Yet again she waited until her Mom picked up.

"Serena, I didn't expect to hear from you" her Mom said in surprise.

"I'm sorry for not calling sooner" Serena said. "Mom there's something I need to tell you".

Serena told her about how she had decided to travel to Hoenn to continue to develop her skills as a performer. Her Mom listened as she continued to explain how she needed to find her path to becoming not only a better performer but a better person.

When she was finished Grace responded "Hoenn's quite far away, are you sure you'll be fine on your own".

"Mom you don't need to worry about me, i'm more than capable of taking care of myself" Serena said.

"I'm sorry, but your my little girl, i'm always going to worry about you".

"Mom"

"It's okay Serena, I'm just happy that you were able to make a decision that was best for you". There was brief pause before Grace asked.

"So are you currently traveling with Ash and the others".

Serena responded "Only with Ash at the moment, we're traveling to the Kalos League hall of fame, Clemont and Bonnie had to stay behind at the gym but they're going to meet us up there".

"So you and Ash are traveling together" Grace asked quizzically.

"Yes" Serena responded. "We're currently in Santalune City, we've decided to stay for the festival that starts this evening".

Grace smirked slightly. "Is this a date by any chance".

Serena turned bright red. "It's not a date Mom" Serena said embarrassedly.

Grace laughed. "I'm only joking, anyway I need to go and feed Rhyhorn, promise you'll call me again soon".

"I will, bye Mom, I love you".

"Love you too sweetie".

Serena hung up the phone sighing to herself. She was just glad that her Mom was happy for her and respected her decision. She turned her head to look out the exit to the battlefield. She could see Ash training with all his Pokemon. She smiled to herself. She rarely got to go or do anything with Ash alone. She knew she would be leaving soon but decided the best thing to do was to make the most of the time she had left with him. Serena then exited the Pokemon center to watch Ash train.

The rest of the day mainly consisted of Ash training while Serena was not only planning out her next Performance routine but also trying to find the best time she can get a plane to Hoenn. The best one she could get would be in two days, the day after Ash's battle with Diantha. She eventually settled with this date.

It wasn't long before the sun started setting as the city lights began to turn on, illuminating the city. From the Pokemon center people could hear the sound of music and alot of bustle, which was to be expected with there being a lot of people attending the festival.

Serena was in her room brushing her hair, preparing to leave with Ash. After all the stress of figuring out what plane to take in two days, she just wanted to let all her worries go and enjoy herself. She also checked the ribbon she had on the front of her outfit, to make sure it was clean and as best looking it could be. In a way she not only considered it a sign of her friendship with Ash but a good luck charm. Serena was pondering over this when she heard a knock at her door.

"Coming" she said as she went to the door opening it to see Ash waiting for her.

"Ready to go" he said.

"Yeah, lets go" Serena responded, but paused when she realised Pikachu wasn't with Ash.

"Where's Pikachu" she asked.

Ash responded "Well with all the training we did today Pikachu was pretty worn out, so he's resting".

"Oh" Serena said before asking "Well if you want to stay with Pikachu I can go to the festival while you stay here".

"No Pikachu will be fine on his own, I asked him and he said I should go".

"Okay then, let's get going" Serena responded smiling.

And with that Ash and Serena left the Pokemon center and entered the slightly busy streets. The lights and decorations gave the place a very magical feel to it. Music from the town square echoed through the streets. Both of them walked around exploring the various stands that were up. A Lot of them were selling food, but there were stands selling some interesting antiques such as evolution stones and even some selling fossils. A bit odd to be selling fossils at a festival Serena thought to herself. Of course Serena was drawn to a lot of the outside shops selling outfits and other accessories, which Ash tried to look interested in. In fact Serena went to try some one of these outfits on. The main one was a red dress not to similar from the dress she wore at the Performers dance party. She came back from the changing room were Ash was waiting.

"So Ash, what do think" she asked twirling.

"Yeah It looks good on you Serena" Ash responded.

"Really" Serena said smiling. "Thank you".

After Serena had got changed back into her normal clothes, the two headed to one of the town squares were to their surprise they saw people gathered around a stage were two Pokemon Performers were doing a routine. Serena watched in awe at the gracefulness of the Pokemon as well as the performers. She knew she had a lot more things to learn to continue to improve her skills.

"There really good" Ash spoke up. He then turned to Serena.

"But to be honest, I prefer your performances".

Serena blushed. It wasn't uncommon for Ash to complement her, even if it was clearly as a friend, but everytime he did it always made her feel a happiness she usually did when she was around Ash.

They both continued to look around at the various things that had been set up. Ash even found a stand selling rare Pokeballs. Though he couldn't afford them it was amusing to Serena to see Ash get excited over something. They even found a stand selling macarons, which luckily they could afford. They bought them and eventually came to the centre of the city were the music was clearly coming from. A small orchestra was stationed at one end of the square, while the rest of the square was made up of several people slow dancing. It was obvious that the people dancing were just people who came to the festival. There were a few tables with chairs at the ends of the square, so Serena and Ash sat down there and watched while they were finishing there macarons. Serena then realised something.

"Hey Ash" she piped up. "I forgot to tell you, I was able to contact Clemont and Bonnie, they said the power at the Lumiose Gym has been fixed, and thanks to Professor Sycamore they should be at the hall of fame by the time we get there".

Ash's face brightened. "That's great, everyone will be there".

Serena then asked "Did you come up with a strategy".

Ash smiled proudly.

"It took me a while, but thanks to Pikachu and the others we now have a full proof plan" Ash said.

"You don't mind me asking what that plan is" Serena asked giggling slightly.

"You'll see during the match" Ash responded. Serena could hear so much determination in his voice that she couldn't not believe him.

"I also wanted to thank you for helping me out" Ash told Serena.

Serena smiled. "Ash, I didn't do anything, you came up with the strategy yourself".

"Of course you did Serena, thanks to your advice i'm now looking at this match from the right angle" Ash responded.

"While I'm still a little nervous, the importance of this match and what you told me encouraged me to go into this match with more determination then any match i've ever faced".

Ash paused before saying "So I owe you one".

"Thank you Ash" Serena said softly. "That means alot to me".

"I mean it, you've helped me through a lot of my battles, like my battle with Korrina and Wolfric, as well as when we battled against Miette and her partner at the dance party.

Serena continued to blush. She was about to respond when the orchestra composer announced they would be playing one last song, which when the music started playing was a slow song. Serena looked out at all the people dancing and her expression turned sad.

"Is something wrong" Ash asked.

"I was just thinking about how much this square feels like the dance party we all attended".

Ash went silent again then out of nowhere said "Hey out of all the people who were with us at the dance party, we didn't dance together".

Serena turned bright red again. "No I guess we didn't" she said trying to hide the hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"So since I owe you one, why don't we have a dance now" Ash said getting out of his chair.

Serena felt her face go so red she thought steam would come out her ears. Was Ash really asking her for a dance. She just stared at Ash with a blank look on her face.

"Come on it'll be fun" Ash said cheerfully holding out his hand for Serena.

Serena though still stunned, slowly reached out and took Ash's hand lifting her out of her chair and leading her to the dance floor.

Once there Serena in her slightly stunned state wasn't sure what to do next. Ash, who clearly didn't know what to do said "Sorry, I'm not that good of a dancer". Serena, who finally came out of her blank state laughed and said "I know, don't worry I'll lead". Serena put her hands on Ash's shoulders and Ash instintinctily put his hands on Serena's waist.

"Alright, now we just sway" She said smiling while blushing madly. The two then gradually started swaying to the music.

Serena couldn't believe what was happening. She was actually dancing with Ash. She finally realized this was the closest she had ever been with Ash. She knew she had a happy expression on her face, but in that moment with her heart beating in her chest and looking directly into Ash's eyes, she wanted to tell him everything, about how she felt about him and how much she was going to miss him. But no matter how perfect the moment seemed to her she just couldn't find the courage to tell him the truth. But she was able to pull herself into a warm embrace. Ash was a little shocked by this but he didn't pull away. They continued to dance until the song came to an end. The song had only been playing for a few minutes but for Serena it felt like an eternity. But eventually they pulled away from each other as everyone started to leave the dance floor.

By this time it was pretty late so the two walked back to the Pokemon center in relative silence. Once they got there they went to there rooms. With the positioning of the rooms they had to walk by Serena's room first. They both stopped outside her room were they went silent again. Then Serena spoke up.

"Thank you for the dance" she said smiling.

Ash scratched his nose laughing slightly. "It's okay, anything for a friend".

Serena smiled and entered her room while Ash left for his.

Once in her room Serena flopped onto her bed. She began going over everything that had happened that day and she came to a realization. She was certain she wanted to go to Hoenn to continue developing her skills as a performer, but after that dance with Ash, she now wasn't sure if she was making the right decision.


	4. Chapter 4

"Pikachu, use quick attack" Ash yelled out.

Pikachu dashed at Mega Gardevoir, his speed increasing at a rapid pace.

"Gardevoir, Moonblast" Diantha commanded Mega Gardevoir. Gardevoir began to charge up with immense power, and launched several blasts of energy at Pikachu. Pikachu managed to dodge most of the blasts but was caught slightly in the middle of one of them causing Pikachu to lose speed.

"Now use Shadow ball"!

Gardevoir holding her hands out generated a massive shadow ball and sent it flying at Pikachu. Ash desperately commanded "Use Iron tail". Pikachu quickly recovered it's stance and jumped, his tail shining with the metal based attack and cut through the shadow ball.

"Now use Thunderbolt". Pikachu sparking electrical energy launched the attack at Gardevoir. Ash was sure this attack would get through, but before the attack hit, Diantha called out to use the reflect move, and with that a shield formed in front of Gardevoir reflecting the attack right back at Pikachu. The reflected attack struck Pikachu sending him flying to the ground briefly stunning him but long enough for Diantha to command,

"Let's end this, use Moonblast"!

Mega Gardevoir once again, glowed with the power of the attack, just before firing several beams at Pikachu.

"PIKACHU" Ash yelled in shock. But before he could command a way to defend against the attack Pikachu was blasted with the full strength of moonblast. The attack enveloped Pikachu causing a blast that knocked Ash back about a foot before the brightness of the attack blinded him. He than felt himself falling.

Ash jolted awake. He found himself on the floor of the Pokemon centers bedroom. Before Ash could think about what had just happened a massive jolt of electricity, well shocked him. Once the attack had stopped and Ash was yet again on the floor. He noticed Pikachu jump onto the bed from where he had previously landed. He realized he must have fallen directly on top of Pikachu.

"Sorry about that buddy" Ash said rubbing his head.

"Pika, Pikachu" Pikachu yelled clearly angry at being awoken by that.

Ash sighed as he picked himself off the floor and sat on the side of the bed. Pikachu, now over his initial rude awakening came up to next to Ash and jumped onto his shoulder which he didn't seem to notice. Pikachu nudged Ash which he finally seemed to notice.

"Sorry Pikachu" Ash noted as he noticed Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Pika, Pika" Pikachu asked.

"No, nothings wrong" Ash responded as he got up to get his jacket. But if Ash was honest with himself that dream had shaken him a little. Not only because of how real it felt, but because in that moment were he thought he had lost one of, if not the most important, match he'll ever face. It's not like he wasn't worried about the match of course he was, who wouldn't, but that fear of the uncertainty about match just wouldn't leave.

But now he knew he couldn't focus on that. He had to keep a straight head. Once Ash had gotten changed back into his regular clothes he and Pikachu headed for Serena's room. Once he got there he knocked on the door. There was no answer. He tried the door handle and found the door unlocked. He peered into the room and noticed that all of Serena's stuff was gone. Ash suspected she probably went down stairs to get some breakfast. But why she hadn't come and knocked on his door to see if he was ready to go confused him slightly.

Serena was in the downstairs part of the Pokemon center eating her breakfast. She knew she probably should have gone to check on Ash but she wanted to just be by herself while eating for once. It wasn't because she didn't want to see Ash, quite the opposite, but after nearly a whole night of subconscious debate with herself about the decision of going to Hoenn, which she was still in serious doubt over, it just left her feeling, well, hollow. This feeling along with constant worrying kept her up most of the night and when the first beams of sunlight peeked through the curtains she just decided to get some early breakfast hoping it would stump out the hollow feeling. But to be honest it did help a little. Though she had been able to use this time to her advantage. She had her tablet to find out more about Pokemon contests. So far she had found out that the rounds of a contest worked a little differently. The first round was basically a somewhat free style round were you would show off your Pokemon's moves in a performance style way. If you passed that round, then the second round was a basic battle against another contestant, but the catch was the battle would be judged on how good the moves looked. She was just reading about the ribbons you would receive if you won the contest, when she noticed Ash and Pikachu entering the main room. Ash immediately saw Serena and came over to her table.

"Morning Serena" Ash said sitting down at the chair opposite her as he and Pikachu practically began devouring the food on the table.

"Good morning Ash, sorry I didn't come and wake you, I was still a little tired and I was pretty hungry" Serena said smiling.

"I know the feeling" Ash responded through mouthfuls of food, "But it's okay".

Serena told Ash that she had all her stuff so she was ready to hit the road when he was. Ash responded that he just needed to get his items out of his room then he would be ready to leave.

With the food all finished and after Ash had retrieved his stuff from his room, the three of them left the Pokemon centre and were just at the starting point of route 22 where they ran into Viola from yesterday.

"Hey you two, I thought i would come to see you off, and to wish you luck against Diantha" Viola said.

"Thanks Viola, I'll do my best" Ash responded.

"Also" Viola continued, "Serena I wanted to give you this".

Viola reached into her bag and pulled out a photograph and handed it to Serena.

When Serena saw what the photo was of, she swore for a moment she was going to die from embarrassment. The photo was of her and Ash dancing together in the square the other night.

"I took that of you two last night, i thought you should probably have it" Viola said smiling.

"Tha, thank you" Serena stuttered in embarrassment.

"No problem" Viola responded before saying goodbye and heading back in the direction of the gym.

"Wow, Viola sure does take good photos" Ash said looking over at the photograph.

Serena quickly put the photo in her bag, thanking the fact that Viola had not said anything else that would have made the situation a little more embarrassing for herself.

"Yeah she sure does" Serena said quickly as they resumed walking along the route.

They knew the hall of fame wasn't far away from were they were now. If they kept going at a decent pace they should be there by late afternoon at best.

Ash was at the time going over every detail of his strategy in his head, trying to make sure there was anything he hadn't accounted for. Though he knew he would only know if the strategy would work until the battle. He was certain that he had gone over everything, but that familiar feeling of doubt kept him second guessing himself.

"Ash" Serena said. Ash turned in response.

"Of all the regions you've been to, have you traveled to Hoenn".

Ash smiled.

"Yes, I've traveled through Hoenn and I fought in the Hoenn league".

Serena responded with "I was curious if you know anything about the Pokemon contests there".

Ash got a slight gleam in his eyes.

"I know quite a bit about them, I've even participated in a few".

Serena giggled in surprise.

"Sorry" Serena said regaining her composure. "You just don't really strike me as a performer".

Ash laughed at this.

"You're not wrong, I may have made it past the first few rounds of some, but I always became more focused on the battling than making the moves look good".

Pikachu sighed in exasperation.

Ash then said "One thing I can tell you, trainers who take part in Pokemon contests are called Coordinators".

Serena was impressed by some of Ash's knowledge on the contests. He told her about how if you win enough contests you can participate in the regions grand festival. Also that he knew a few people who were not only coordinates but they were pretty advanced coordinators.

It didn't take long for the three of them to reach a fork in the road. Once they figured out the right one to take they continued down the pathway which was now leading them into another dense wooded area. The pathway seemed to keep winding off into random directions. Even with this they knew they were heading in the right direction as there was only one path. This path eventually led them through several cave entrances, but luckily they came out of them just as quickly as they entered.

"I know the Hall of fame is a really important landmark in Kalos" Serena said clearly running out of breath from all the walking. "But why did it have to be out in the most secluded part of the region".

"I see what you mean" Ash said who unlike Serena was still full of energy. "I guess the journey for those going to the hall was made this long to give the challengers a sense of accomplishment once they made it there".

"Probably" Serena responded having finally caught her breath.

After they had gone through a few more winding pathways they came to a straight brick layed road.

"I think we're almost there" Ash exclaimed as he began to run along the road with Serena trying to keep up with him.

It wasn't long before a gleaming white building started to come into view. As they got closer both Ash and Serena were blown away by not only the size of the structure but at how eye catching the building was. To Serena it looked like what she would have imagined a royal palace to look like. They both continued to dash towards the building. They eventually reached what looked like the main courtyard. The pathway lead up to the giant sized doors of the building. The courtyard contained many variety of flowers, which filled the air with an unfamiliar yet intoxicating smell. Once they reached the doors they weren't exactly sure what to do next. Ash tried Knocking but because of the material the door was made of it made no sound. They both stood there for a moment trying to figure out exactly what to do, but the double door then started to slowly open. Without hesitation they both stepped through them.

They were now in a hallway that split off into three directions. Ash noted how big the interior of the building was. The first way which continued straight forward led to another set of giant double doors. The hallway on the left and right though, had nothing to indicate were they led. Yet again before they could decide which way to go a familiar voice came from the left side hallway.

"Ash, Serena"!

They both turned to face the direction the voice was coming. They saw Bonnie running down the hallway with Clemont and Professor Sycamore walking behind her.

"You finally made it, we've been waiting forever" Bonnie pouted in annoyance while hugging Serena.

Serena laughed. "Sorry but we had to take the long pathway up here, it took longer than we thought" Serena commented.

"Well at least you made it" Clemont said.

"Yeah your right" Ash commented grinning before asking, "So where are we supposed to go from here".

Professor Sycamore chimed in "Don't worry it's down this way". They followed him down the hallway that they had coming down. They continued along until they reached a point where the hall split off on the right hand side. They went down in this direction and through another pair of doors. They then found themselves in a Pokemon centre like room, where not only was there a nurse Joy working behind the section were she would heal Pokemon but the room also had a lot of tables and chairs.

"All your rooms are up that staircase" Sycamore said pointing to a staircase on the opposite end of the room.

He then said "You guys should make yourself at home, I have some work I need to complete with Nurse Joy".

"Alright we will" Clemont said. "Oh and thanks for getting me and Bonnie up here in time".

"Was a pleasure" Sycamore said before going through the door that presumably led to the back part of the built in Pokemon centre, leaving the four on their own.

"By the way" Ash said as he turned to face Clemont, "How did you end up fixing the power at the lumiose gym anyway".

"It's kind of complicated" Clemont said as he tensed up slightly. "What matters is that the power was fully restored and that we got here in time, all by my doing".

Bonnie then said smiling smugly "That's not how I remember it". Serena and Ash turned to Bonnie looking slightly confused.

"The way I remember it is that Clemont was trying to use his latest invention to fix the power cords, it exploded and it caused Dedenne to release a thunderbolt that shocked us both" Bonnie said. Dedenne than jumped out of her bag and onto her shoulder. Bonnie continued,

"The extra jolt of electricity managed to restore most of the power, so you can thank Dedenne for getting the job done".

They all turned back to Clemont who looked pretty embarrassed by the whole thing. They then all burst out laughing.

"It doesn't matter who fixed the problem" Ash said. "What matters is that we're all here".

"Ash is right" Serena said reassuring Clemont.

Clemont gave a short smile, then said scratching his head "We weren't exactly the first ones here".

"What do you mean" Ash commented.

"You really thought I would miss my son's battle against a Regional Champion" a voice came from behind him.

Ash immediately turned around to see his Mom having come down the stairs standing there smiling brightly with Professor Oak standing next to her.

"Mom" Ash said in surprise. "What are you doing here".

Delia smiled again. "Like I said, I wouldn't miss this match for the world".

Ash though still surprised to see his Mom, was still overjoyed to see her. Pikachu immediately leapt into Delia's arms cooing slightly.

Delia laughed. "Of course I haven't forgotten about you Pikachu" she said while petting Pikachu. Pikachu then jumped back on to Ash's shoulder. It was then when Professor Oak spoke up.

"You sure have improved a lot of your trainer skills since I last saw you, and I have to say I'm really impressed".

"Thanks, It's great to see you both" Ash responded.

"You have been taking care of yourself" Delia questioned. "Have you been changing your underwear every day".

"Mom, geeze" Ash said scratching his head in embarrassment. Bonnie at this burst out laughing, while the others tried to contain there giggles. It was at this that Delia brought her attention to the others behind Ash.

"I apologise, but since Ash got here we haven't had a proper introduction" she said. She was right, in all the commotion Clemont and Bonnie had not introduced themselves to Delia even though they had arrived at virtually the same time and neither had Serena, though she had arrived with Ash.

"Well I'm Clemont" Clemont said repositioning his glasses.

Ash commented "Clemonts the gym leader of Lumiose City".

"Wow, how interesting" Delia said.

Bonnie chimed in. "I'm Clemonts sister, Bonnie and this is Dedenne" she said as Dedenne jumped onto her head.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you" Delia said.

Bonnie then smile grew wider and then said "You're a keeper" as she got on one knee. "Will you please take care of my brother". Delia looked a little confused, then Clemonts Aipom arm plucked Bonnie off her feet.

"Bonnie how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that" Clemont yelled in embarrassment.

"You'll think about it won't you" Bonnie said.

"Ignore her" Clemont said trying to hide his face as he along with him carrying Bonnie, fled up the stairs to the bedrooms, leaving everyone feeling a little bit uncomfortable. Delia then of course turned her attention to Serena.

"And who might you be" Delia said smiling.

"I'm Serena" Serena responded.

"We met back at your camp professor, a few years ago" Ash said. "Then when I began my journey here, we ran into each other".

"Really" Professor Oak said. He glanced at Serena again before his face lit up. "I did think you looked familiar, I'm sorry I didn't recognise you".

"It's fine" Serena said waving it off. "Ash didn't exactly remember me at first".

"Well it's great to meet you as well" Delia said.

She then turned back to Ash. "You too should go and unpack your things upstairs".

"You're right, I almost forgot, we'll be back as soon as we can" Ash said before he dashed up the stairs with Serena following suit.

After reaching the top of the stairs they found themselves in another hallway. While walking through the hallway Ash noticed a sliding glass door that led out to a balcony. He stopped at the door, opened it and stepped out onto the balcony. A cool breeze could be felt on his face as he approached the edge. To his surprise, he could now see for miles of wilderness and mountainous areas. This was finally a moment he could stop thinking about the match tomorrow, and just look at the scenery.

"Wow, the view up here is amazing" Serena said as she stepped out onto the balcony to join Ash.

"Yeah, you can see for miles from here" Ash responded. He honestly could have stayed there for a while to stay in that sense of peace, but he then looked down from the balcony and saw a massive battlefield in the courtyard. At least he now knew where to he could train for the rest of the day. With this in mind Ash turned and returned to the main hallway and approached the door near opposite him. Ash saw that Serena didn't followed him in. He assumed that Serena just wanted to continue to admire the scenery from the balcony. With that Ash entered the room he chose for himself, closing the door behind him.

The room had a simple king sized bed and a doorway leading to the bathroom. It was pretty much what was to be expected from a Pokemon centre bedroom. Ash took his bag off his shoulders and lay down on the bed with Pikachu doing the same thing.

"We're really here Pikachu" Ash said. "We're really about to challenge the Champion of Kalos".

"Pi, Pika, Pikachu" Pikachu responded as he laid beside Ash. Ash instinctively pet Pikachu, to which Pikachu chooed affectionately at.

Ash after a while sat up and got to his feet.

"Come on Pikachu" he said. "We don't have a lot of time left in the day, let's get as much training in as we can".

"Pikachu" Pikachu said triumphantly as he jumped back on to Ash's shoulder and the two left the room and headed towards the battlefield.

Once Ash had found his way back into the downstairs hallway after healing the rest of his Pokemon, he entered the courtyard and onto the battlefield.

"Okay everybody, come on out".

Ash threw the Pokeballs into the air and his final 5 Pokemon appeared from them. Pikachu joined them in the row. Ash looked over them all, with a sense of proudness that he thought a parent would.

"Guys" Ash said. "Before we begin training" to which he then paused briefly. He then continued, "I just wanted to say how proud I am of all of you".

"We've all come along way together and we've all had our missteps and mistakes, but we've always pulled through and I know we'll pull through this".

All of the Pokemon made a triumphant pose to which made Ash smile.

"Let's train hard and let's win this" he said to which not only Pikachu leapt back into his arms but so did all the others. This ultimately knocked Ash onto his feet.

"Okay, okay" Ash said laughing his head off. "Your kind of crushing me". After that happy moment Ash set about going through his strategy once again and soon the battlefield was a mad flurry of attacks being launched.

Serena in the meantime had not left her position on the balcony. Her attention had however turned to Ash on the battlefield. She was so focused on him that she almost didn't notice Professor Oak and Ash's mom had joined her on the balcony.

"Looks like Ash is hard at work again" Prof Oak commented.

"That's Ash for you, he always tries his hardest" Serena responded.

Delia the said "I'm really curious to see Ash battle with his Greninja, from what a saw on TV during the League Greninja seemed to change forms during battle".

"I know" Oak continued on. "I need to get some more information on exactly what happens to Greninja, it could be really important to my research".

Serena decided to provide some insight on the whole thing to Professor Oak.

"Really the most we know about it is that it's called The Bond Phenomenon, and Ash is one of the few trainers that can do it".

Oak turned to Serena in surprise. "I didn't know that something like that even existed" he responded.

"From what Professor Sycamore told us" Serena continued, "It's requires a strong bond between trainer and Pokemon, but it's a very rare ability".

She glanced back at Ash who was in the middle of overseeing a sparring match between Hawlucha and Greninja.

"To be honest it doesn't surprise me that Ash can perform such a rare ability" Serena said.

"He's one of the most determined and strongest trainers I've ever met".

"You're not wrong there" Professor Oak said. He then clearly had an idea cross his mind.

"I must question Professor Sycamore on this matter" he said as he quickly dashed back through the door to the balcony. This left Serena and Delia watching Ash train. However Delia broke the silence.

"I was just curious" she asked Serena. "How exactly did you meet Ash at Professor Oak's camp".

Serena blushed slightly at this. Her meeting Ash, for her at least, was a pretty personal moment for her and she was hesitant to tell Ash's mom all the details as she didn't want Delia to suspect there was anything going on between her and Ash. It's not that there was something going on, at least from Ash's point of view, but Serena knew she had to word what happened carefully so as to avoid being asked more questions.

"Well" Serena said thinking carefully. "We met in the middle of the woods surrounding pallet town, I'd got separated from the other campers and I had got startled by a Poliwag and I fell and hurt my leg".

Serena continued, "But luckley Ash showed up and helped me back to camp".

Delia smiled. "I wouldn't have expected any less from Ash".

"I met up with him here in Kalos when I recognized him on TV during an incident that had happened at the Lumiose Gym".

"In a way if I hadn't seen Ash I wouldn't have started my journey or find my dream of being a performer" Serena said as were her hand gradually fell over the blue ribbon on her chest.

Delia turned back to watch Ash train.

"Ash always seems to bring out the best parts in people" Delia said.

"It's why he's my friend" Serena responded.

"Serena" a voice came from the doorway.

Serena turned to see Bonnie standing there.

"Clemont's working on a new invention, and me and Dedenne were going to look around the courtyards and see the flowers, would you come with us".

Serena smiled.

"Of course I will, lets go" she said as she joined Bonnie in running down the hallway to find the courtyards.

"Are you okay Serena"?

Bonnie and Serena had been exploring the courtyards filled with the many different varieties of flowers. They were both surprised to see a lot of wild Pokemon among the bushes and the flowers. Bonnie and Dedenne were, of course, ecstatic. They both spent a lot of the time in the courtyard interacting with the Pokemon and Bonnie and Serena debating over which flowers were the most pretty. Bonnie had even 'borrowed' some of Clemont's Pokemon food to feed Dedenne but when a lot of wild Pokemon came towards them they started giving most of the food to them. And yet even with all the fun Serena was having, she just couldn't escape the unbearable feeling of doubt over her leaving in a few days. Clearly she hadn't been doing the best job at hiding it as Bonnie asked her about it.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me" Serena said trying to think how to change the topic.

Bonnie of course wasn't falling for it. She knew Serena well enough to know that something was wrong.

"Did something happen between you and Ash while we weren't around" Bonnie questioned.

"No, nothing happened" Serena replied quickly trying to hide the blush on her face.

Bonnie giving up trying to get words out of Serena returned to feeding the Pokemon. Serena sighed. She figured that she owed Bonnie some sort of explanation.

"I'm just sad about leaving, that's all" she said.

Bonnie turned her attention back to Serena.

"Well, I'm sad that you and Ash will be leaving soon too" Bonnie said. "But knowing that you're both leaving to pursue your dreams, in a way..". She paused before saying,

"... it makes me feel less sad and more happy for both you".

Serena was surprised to hear something so mature come from Bonnie. It did make Serena feel a bit better, but that was only half of the problem. She didn't want to tell Bonnie, it wasn't just leaving her and Clemont, but leaving Ash. But the more she thought about not wanting to leave Ash especially after everything that had happened between them on, not just on their journey, but for the past few days. It just made her feelings even more jumbled than they already were.

"And Serena, whatever else your worried about" Bonnie once again spoke.

"This may sound odd but what I've found sometimes helps me when I've had to make a difficult decision, I would watch Clemont's gym battles".

She once again paused before saying "Every time I saw Clemont in his role as a gym leader, he was always in a pinch about a way to teach the challengers to be better trainers, and win or lose he always seemed to solve the problem".

She continued, "In a way seeing someone else come to terms with a problem always seemed to help me come to a solution to my problem".

Bonnie turned back to look at Dedenne who had fallen asleep in Bonnie's yellow bag.

"I know it's not the most helpful advice, but it's the best I have".

Serena remained silent. She knew Bonnie was trying to help her in her own way but she knew that she could only figure this out if she had a clearer head. Serena was about to thank Bonnie for the advice until she noticed how large there shadows had become. She looked up towards the horizon to see the sun beginning to set. Serena was shocked at how quickly evening had come around. They had been so preoccupied with everything else they didn't notice. Almost on cue, Clemont came running around the corner of one of the bushes. He eventually stopped in front of the two, nearly passing out from exhaustion. Once he'd picked himself off the ground he finally managed to get his words out.

"The food…. Is…..ready" he said through staggering breaths.

The two practically had to carry Clemont back, which was a lot harder than it looked. They returned through the main entrance and made it to the Pokemon centre like room to which they found Delia, Professor Oak and Professor Sycamore sitting at the table that had, what looked like enough food to feed a wedding party let alone the 7 of them.

They all took there seats at the table, but before she started eating Bonnie realised something and spoke up.

"Where's Ash".

Sycamore finished his mouthful before saying,

"He said he will be here in a minute, said he was just finishing up".

"That's how you know Ash is working hard" Clemont said. "He never gives up food if offered".

"He's always been like that" Delia said laughing.

This was halted abruptly when the door swung open. Ash appeared in the doorway holding Pikachu. But the look of distress on his face immediately alerted everyone that something was wrong.

Ash abruptly dashed by them to nurse Joy who luckily seemed to already be on the case.

"Nurse Joy, can you help Pikachu" Ash said worryingly.

"Of course" she said. "I'll get Pikachu healed the best I can".

She placed Pikachu on a stretcher and left through the door to the main healing equipment. There was a long silence as Ash dropped into his seat next to Serena and placed his head in his hands.

"Ash what happened" Serena asked with a concerned tone in her voice.

Ash lifted his head and sighed.

"A sparring match between Greninja and Pikachu" he said.

"I pushed them both too hard and Pikachu got hit with a massive blow".

Everyone had their eyes on Ash who remained silent for a while.

"It was my fault, I didn't think the attack was that powerful to hurt Pikachu".

There was nothing that they could do but wait for Nurse Joy to return. Everyone had pretty much lost their appetite. No one attempted to try and console Ash for worry they would make the situation worse.

Ash currently felt awful. Not only had he misjudged the pure strength of one of his attacks, he had unintentionally hurt Pikachu. What was wrong with him. He knew he was better than this. But what scared himself just as much was that he was afraid of the match tomorrow. This match would determine his future as a Pokemon trainer and losing this match would well… he wasn't exactly sure how it would affect him. Ash mentally shook himself out of it. He told himself it was only the stress and Pikachu getting hurt that was throwing him off course. He just had to remember to keep going until the very end, and he knew he had come too far to lose hope now.

"It's okay, I'm fine" Ash said looking up and at everyone at the table.

"Don't worry about Pikachu" Serena told him placing her hand on his shoulder. "Pikachu will be fine, like you he always pulls through".

Ash looked down at his food in front of him. "Yeah your right, Pikachu's strong, I know he'll be alright".

Everyone seemed to be able to resume eating and talking, though Ash remained quite, while he continued picking at his food.

Serena wanted to find a way to make Ash feel better, but she knew she had done all she could do. However her attention was brought to Professor Sycamore, who she had just heard say under his breath,

"She should be here by now".

"Who should be here" Serena questioned. Sycamore who had clearly thought no one would hear him had a bit of an awkward expression on his face.

"Well you see…" he said. "I wasn't meant to say but….".

He was cut off when, Diantha of all people entered through the Pokemon centre's entrance. Everyone kind of stared with blank expressions.

"Sorry, am I late" she said smiling.

"Not at all" Sycamore said.

"It's great to see you Diantha" Ash said getting up from his seat. "I thought you wouldn't be arriving till tomorrow".

"I know, but I wanted to see all of you before tomorrow".

Delia was next to stand up and introduce herself to Diantha, who expressed how impressed she was with Ash's skills as a trainer and how she was looking forward to challenging Ash.

Once Diantha had made her acquaintances with everyone else she of course greeted Bonnie, Clemont and Serena and then Ash. But then she noticed Pikachu wasn't with Ash.

"Where's Pikachu" she asked.

"Oh, Nurse Joy is healing him at the moment, we went a little overboard with the training".

"I see, well I just wanted to wish you luck against me tomorrow, I'm expecting a grand battle".

As on cue the Pokemon centre door pinged and Nurse Joy came out with Pikachu looking a lot better.

"Pikachu" Ash said. Pikachu leapt off the stretcher and back onto Ash's shoulder.

"You feeling better, buddy" he said.

"Pika, Pikachu" Pikachu responded.

Ash turned his attention to Diantha.

"I can promise you my best" Ash said.

"I'm glad to hear it".

And with that both Diantha and Ash shook hands and she left through the Pokemon centre entrance.

Ash returned to his seat and started to dig into the food. Now that he knew Pikachu was fine he could now finally fill his empty stomach. As usual Ash was done just as quickly as he began. This caused stifled laughs from the others.

"Awww, I needed that" Ash said leaning back. He then let out a massive yawn.

"I think that this is a good time for bedtime" Delia spoke up.

Ash responded indignantly, "But I need to spend this time to continue training.

Delia then spoke in a more stern tone,

"Ash you've been training non stop all day, you need to get as much rest as possible".

Ash's face fell in defeat.

"Yeah, you're right".

Serena also yawned. "After all we've done today, I think going to bed now is the best idea".

"But i'm not tired" Bonnie protested.

"Bonnie" Clemont said, "You can barely keep your eyes open".

Bonnie tried to make her best wide awake face but to no avail.

"As a matter of fact, we should all probably get to bed, it's a big day tomorrow" Professor Oak said.

They immediately set about cleaning the table, and then ushering themselves up the stairs. Bonnie had to be directed to her room by Clemont, as she was already nearly asleep.

"Good night both of you" Clemont told Ash and Serena before entering his room with Bonnie leaving the two in the hallway alone.

"Well Pikachu, we should get some sleep as well" Ash said. He turned around to head for his room.

"Ash" Serena asked.

Ash's face turned back to Serena.

"Is something wrong" he asked.

"Are you okay, you know after what happened early".

"Don't worry about me" he said though Serena could tell by his bothered expression he wasn't being honest.

"Alright, well, goodnight Ash" Serena said.

"See you in the morning" Ash responded before leaving down the hallway.

Serena remained there for a while before entering her room. She sighed while leaning against the door. She felt sorry for Ash after what happened with Pikachu. He seemed to be all fired up for the next day, but after that he seemed to have been knocked down in his prime. Serena wandered over to her bed before collapsing in exhaustion. She wanted to find a way to make Ash feel better, something that could help him out, mentally, during the battle. After all the encouragement he had given her during her Showcases, she wanted to give something back to him. She was about to drift off while pondering this, then she suddenly had an idea. She sat up and looked down at the ribbon on her outfit.

"That's it" she thought to herself.

Back in Ash's room, Pikachu had fallen fast asleep, but Ash was still awake. The worry and doubt about tomorrow, which he had been desperately avoiding, had caught up with him. And with Pikachu getting hurt it made him question more and more if he was really ready for this.

"I have too win" Ash said under his breath.

"I just have too".


	5. Chapter 5

Serena felt around the desk on the side of her bed to shut off the shrill sound of the alarm. She finally found her tablet and the annoying beep finally stopped. Serena though didn't need any extra motivation to get herself out of bed. She wasn't going to sleep in, especially today. She got up and stretched a few times before stepping into the bathroom to brush her hair and to freshen herself up. After this she got changed into her usual outfit and just before she left her room she made sure she had her surprise for Ash. She hoped that this could help give him a bit of a confidence boost especially after what happened the night before.

Just across the hall, Clemont was frantically dashing around to make sure he would be ready to leave in time, while Bonnie on the other hand was rubbing her eyes and just focused on forcing herself not to lie down and fall asleep again.

"Bonnie come on, everyone is probably already awake" Clemont spoke frantically.

"Clemont, think maybe you're overreacting just a little" Bonnie said with an irritated look.

"I just don't want to keep Ash and the others waiting".

Eventually they were both dressed and awake. Bonnie noticed Clemont grab something out of his Clemontic gear.

"What is that" She asked.

Clemont had a brief gleam in his eyes. "What I was working on the other day, and I guarantee you'll be impressed".

"Sure" Bonnie said smugly before swinging the door open and dashing down the hallway with Clemont tailing behind her.

However at this time Ash was not awake yet. But Pikachu heard all the commotion coming from the hallway and tried to wake Ash but to no avail. There was only one option.

"PIKACHUUUU".

Pikachu used thunderbolt on Ash, and let's just say it did the job.

Ash who was now fully awake, instead of looking annoyed looked more alive than ever.

"Thanks Pikachu, I needed that".

He jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face to make himself look more presentable. He slipped on his normal clothes, then his blue jacket, and finally his cap. Pikachu jumped from the bed to his normal spot on Ash's shoulder.

"Ready" Ash said confidently.

"Pikachu" Pikachu said with a determined look on his face. And with that the two opened the bedroom door and left for downstairs.

"I'm happy to say that all your Pokemon are healed" said Nurse Joy. She handed Ash his Pokeballs, while Pikachu jumped onto the table to finish the Pokemon food that Clemont had left out for all of Ash's pokemon before being were healed by Nurse Joy.

"Thanks Nurse Joy" Ash complemented.

"Glad to help, and good luck out there today".

Ash happily responded, "I'll give it my all".

He then rejoined the others at the table, who were soon joined by Professor Oak and Ash's Mom.

The group were very eager to finish their breakfast as quickly as possible. They were surprised though to see Ash was just as hungry as he always was. Put themselves in Ash's shoes they would be too nervous and excited to eat. Nothing seemed to phase him.

"Your sure that you're as prepared as you could be" Delia questioned Ash.

"Mom, I've got everything I need, stop worrying" Ash responded.

"I know, I'm just so nervous for you, especially before your battles" Delia said.

"There's nothing to worry about" Professor Oak reassured her

The next few minutes were just all of them waiting around for someone to come and lead them to the battlefield. The atmosphere in the room felt so thick, Serena could swear she cut through it with a knife. But after about 10 mins, Professor Sycamore came through the door.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting" he said.

"It's okay" Ash said. "So is it time".

"It's time" Sycamore said smiling. "Follow me".

Sycamore led them back down the main hallway until they had reached the entrance to the Hall. This was where the corridors split off in three separate ways, including the one they had just came down. Sycamore pointed down the hallway, which would be the one they would be in front of when entering the hall of fame. They could see the giant double door at the end of the long hallway. They walked down this hallway gradually approaching the door.

"The battlefield is directly through there" Sycamore said turning back to Ash. "I'll lead the rest of you back to the upper balcony on the battlefield, only the challenger can enter through here".

"Well, this is it" Ash said. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and stood right beside him.

"We're all rooting for you" Sycamore said.

"Yeah" Bonnie said "You're going to win for sure".

"Dene, dene" said Dedenne.

"We're all so proud of you" Delia said wiping away a tear in her eye.

"She's right" Clemont said. "No one deserves this opportunity more than you".

"All your Pokemon back home as well as myself having been waiting for this moment for a long time" Professor Oak said.

Serena was the last to speak. "No matter what happens, we'll all be there for you" she said.

Ash smiled modestly.

"Thanks all of you, for supporting us" Ash said.

"Pikachuuu" Pikachu piped up from beside him.

"Well, I best lead us to the balcony" Sycamore said.

Sycamore began to lead the others back up the hallway and taking the hallway on their left. But Serena however stayed were she was. The others clearly noticed this and stopped.

"Serena, aren't you coming" Bonnie called out.

Serena turned and waved them off.

"I'll catch up with you guys" she called back. Instead of objecting Sycamore nodded and continued leading the others down the hallway. Serena waited until she was sure they weren't within ear shot.

"Shouldn't you be going with the others" Ash said smiling.

Serena stood there, playing with here hair, trying her best to make sure Ash didn't notice how much she was blushing.

"I...I just wanted…". Serena paused for a moment.

"I just wanted to tell you…." She tried her best to keep her composure.

"... I'll be cheering you on".

Ash smiled at this.

"Thanks" he replied. "I won't let you down".

Serena managed to form together the words she wanted to say.

"You see Ash, well…. there was something I wanted to give you".

At this Ash gave a curious expression.

Serena took a deep breath.

She reached into her pocket and brought out something she was concealing with both hands. She took a step forward until she was right in front of Ash. She brought out her hands in front of her and without hesitating, opened them revealing a beautiful blue ribbon.

Ash stared down at it.

"Is that…." Ash started saying.

"Yeah, it's the one you gave me" she said smiling.

He then finally noticed that Serena's outfit was missing the blue ribbon she always wore.

"I want you to have it".

Ash looked up at Serena looking a little confused.

"You see, some of the best things that have happened to me have happened while I've been wearing this ribbon" Serena said looking down at the ribbon she was holding out.

"In a way, I see it as a good luck charm, so….. I thought that it could….. hopefully bring you some good luck".

Ash reached down and carefully took the ribbon in his hand.

"And also" Serena continued.

"While your out their battling… a part of me will be out there with you".

Ash kind of just stood there holding the ribbon in his hand.

He looked back at Serena, before smiling and carefully slipping the ribbon into his pocket.

"Thanks Serena" he said.

Serena smiled in return. She turned around and was about to walk away, but she paused for a second. She then turned around and looked directly into Ash's eyes.

She then kissed him on the cheek.

"Good luck" she said.

She then turned and hurried down the hallway and around the corner.

Ash had what could be described as a look that was a mix between mild shock and confusion. Pikachu, who had been standing next to Ash the whole time, was blushing in embarrassment. Ash smiled once again.

"Come on, buddy" he said bending down and holding out his hand to Pikachu, who jumped onto Ash's arm and returned to his spot on Ash's shoulder. Ash turned to face the giant double doors. The doors gradually started to open as a bright light enveloped the rest of the hallway.

"Let's do this Pikachu"

"Pika, pika".

And the two walked through the doorway.

Ash immediately found himself in what was possibly the most beautiful battle arena he had ever seen. The entire room was white and lent itself to what the inside of a palace throne room would look like. At the very opposite end of the arena was a giant stained glass window, which to what Ash could make out, depicted many different Pokemon and a Pokeball at the very top. On both sides of the window were transparent curtains that started from the very top of the ceiling and ended at the floor. A battlefield took up most of the floor, a standard flat rocky field.

And of course Diantha was standing at the opposite end who had been patiently waiting for Ash to enter.

Ash took a few steps forward until he was at the correct position in front of the battlefield. He then noticed the large balcony that ringed its way all around the chamber were all his friends were, along with a seperate balcony, that was smaller and slightly higher up, which seated the commentator and the referee.

Then Diantha spoke.

"Welcome Ash Ketchum, to The Grand Chamber".

She paused before saying,

"I Challenge you to a Pokemon battle, do you accept".

Ash smiled.

"Your on Diantha".

"As you know Ash" she responded. "I've been anticipating this battle, and I expect alot from you so don't hold back".

"I promise you" Ash said, "I'm gonna give everything I've got".

Diantha smiled in return.

"I wouldn't want it any other way" she responded. "Let's get started".

Immediately a voice erupted from what Ash could assume were loudspeakers.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE MATCH WE ONLY GET TO SEE EVERY FEW YEARS, WITH THE LATEST VICTOR OF THE KALOS LEAGUE, ASH KETCHUM FROM THE KANTO REGION, FACE OFF AGAINST THE REIGNING POKEMON CHAMPION OF KALOS, DIANTHA, IN AN EPIC BATTLE THAT WILL DECIDE IF THE VICTOR HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME OUR NEW CHAMPION, OR WILL THE CURRENT CHAMPION MAINTAIN HER TITLE".

"THIS IMPORTANT MATCH AS YOU KNOW IS BEING BROADCAST ALL OVER THE WORLD".

Everyone on the lowest balcony were watching intently as a giant screen presented Ash and Diantha's pokemon. Ash had six Pokemon in total were as Diantha had one. To any simple viewer this would look like a relatively one sided battle, but to anyone who knew who Diantha was, knew not to underestimate her.

The referee now took to the speaker.

"THIS BATTLE WILL HAVE STANDARD POKEMON BATTLE RULES" the voice boomed around the chamber.

"THE BATTLE WILL END WHEN ALL OF EITHER TRAINERS POKEMON ARE UNABLE TO BATTLE"

"YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SWITCH POKEMON AS LONG AS THE POKEMON BEING CALLED BACK IS NOT DIRECTLY BATTLING THE OPPOSING POKEMON".

The speaker took a moment to catch her breath.

"TRAINERS, CHOOSE YOUR POKEMON".

Ash knew which Pokemon he wanted to start with. He reached for, and grabbed, the Pokeball he wanted.

"Talonflame, I Choose You" Ash yelled as he threw the Pokeball in the air which opened, causing Talonflame to appear on his side of the battlefield flying stationary.

Diantha took her Pokeball and threw it in the air which opened.

"Gardevoir, let's win this".

Diantha's Gardevoir appeared with elegance on her side of the field.

"Come on Ash" Bonnie and Clemont yelled from the balcony.

"We're all here" Delia and the two professors cheered.

"You can do this" Serena called out with her hands over chest. "I know you can" she thought to herself.

"This is it" Ash thought to himself. Every battle he had fought and every Pokemon he had befriended had led him to this very moment. He knew without a doubt he was stronger as trainer than he ever thought he could be. He'd come all this way and with everyone's help, he would triumph.

"BATTLE BEGIN".

"Alright, let's go Talonflame, use Flame Charge" Ash commanded.

Talonflame immediately took off, beginning to pick up his flying speed, and almost immediately became enveloped in flames. Talonflame sped towards Gardevoir at an incredible velocity.

Diantha and Gardevoir seemed unfazed by the incoming attack. In fact Ash had never seen someone look so calm during a battle.

Just as it looked like the attack was about to hit, Diantha glanced at Gardevoir to which she clearly was waiting to see, and at a speed so fast that it looked like Gardevoir had teleported, Gardevoir just completely stepped out of the pathway of the attack. Talonflame's flaming body dissipated as it veered back up into the air and back towards a good striking distance.

Ash clenched his fist slightly. He knew that in order to land a direct attack he was going to have to match Gardevoirs speed. He instinctively called out an attack, that could help him figure out exactly how much speed Gardevoir was capable of performing.

"Talonflame, use Razor Wind".

Talonflame began to flap its wings, beginning to generate a strong wind directed at Gardevoir. Talonflame wings glowed a bright white and sent several glowing blades of energy at Gardevoir.

"Reflect" Diantha spoke.

Gardevoir threw her hands out in front of her causing a shield like barrier to form in front of her. The glowing blades struck the shield and immediately shattered. The wind generated also seemed to completely dissipate. The shield faded.

Ash considered using this opportunity to try another attack, but before he could think of the best way to, Diantha beat him to it. Diantha thrust her hand out.

"Use Psychic".

Gardevoir once again threw her hands out. A giant wall of pulsating Psychic energy generated from Gardevoirs hands and launched it in Talonflames direction.

"Dodge it" Ash called out desperately.

Talonflame tried to maneuver out of the way, but the size of the wall of energy was to big and coming at him to fast. The waves of the Psychic attack struck Talonflame, knocking him out of the air, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Talonflame" Ash yelled out in concern. "Can you still battle".

As the cloud of dust dissipated, Talonflame managed to pick himself off the ground, and turned his head to Ash letting him know that he still could.

Ash relieved that Talonflame was alright commanded,

"Take to the air".

Talonflame immediately flapped his wings and rose up into the air trying to keep balance.

"This isn't working" Ash thought to himself. He had tried several attacks and none of them had hit. He knew he had to use a different strategy. He knew to stay ahead of the battle he would need to find a way to dodge or counter Gardevoirs Psychic attack.

"This is incredible" Professor Oak said. "I've never seen a Pokemon able to communicate by looking at each others eyes with no verbal communication".

"A strong bond and feeling of trust must be between a trainer and Pokemon to pull off something like this" Professor Sycamore commented.

"I'm quite interested to see how Ash will be able to act on the challenge that presents itself".

"Talonflame use Brave Bird" Ash commanded.

Talonflame body glowed a bright white and began to pick up speed once again. Gardevoir noticeably raised her defensive stance, but what seemed to confuse her and Diantha was that it didn't appear that Talonflame was trying to target Gardevoir. Talonflame instead seemed to be flying around the field, progressively getting faster.

Diantha then suddenly understood what Ash was attempting to do.

"Gardevoir, use Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir held out her hands and generated a Shadow ball attack, and sent it speeding towards Talonflame. There was a loud crash. The attack had completely missed and had hit the wall at the opposite end of the battlefield. Talonflame was moving to fast for any attack to hit. Diantha's immediate response was to go on the defensive. But Ash had been waiting for this. He just had to wait for the right moment. At this point Talonflame was moving so fast that it had become a blur spinning around the top of the battlefield.

"Gardevoir, use Reflect" Diantha commanded.

Ash took his chance. "TALONFLAME NOW".

Before Gardevoir could generate the shield in front of her, Talonflame redirected itself straight at Gardevoir. Talonflame smashed into Gardevoir with the brave bird attack. Talonflame flew back up into the air out of reach. Though the attack had been a direct hit, Gardevoir had barely flinched. In fact Ash was so bewildered by how little effect the attack seemed to have that he didn't have time to prepare for Gardevoir to retaliate.

"Shadow Ball" Diantha yelled.

Gardevoir once again generated another shadow ball and launched it.

"Dodge it" Ash commanded.

Talonflame yet again tried to out maneuver the attack. But luckily, the shadow ball wasn't a direct hit, but the after effect from it was a massive problem. The attack had hit Talonflames left wing. The attack forced Talonflame to retreat to the ground.

"Talonflame, what's wrong" Ash yelled worriedly. But he quickly realized the problem. The attack had caused damage to the wing and now Talonflame had difficulty controlling its balance while flying.

Talonflame took to air, but Ash could see the difficulty Talonflame was having. Ash tried to think of a way around this but once again Diantha was ready to launch another attack.

"Use Shadow ball".

Gardevoir generated another shadow ball launched it.

Ash though had a way to counter this.

"Talonflame use Steel Wing"

At the last minute before the attack hit, Talonflame's wings, glowing a silver color, struck the shadow ball and, unbelievably, knocked it right back in Gardevoir's direction. Gardevoir of course was able to dodge the attack with her incredible speed. But for a brief moment Gardevoir was momentarily distracted by the attack that she had dodge's by the skin of her teeth.

Ash saw his chance and took it.

"USE FLAME CHARGE".

Talonflames body erupted into flames and sped towards Gardevoir, but noticeably slower than before. Shocking to Ash was, yet again, how quickly Diantha and Gardevoir responded to the attack.

"Psychic" Diantha said.

Gardevoir generated a wall of Psychic energy and launched it in Talonflames direction.

Talonflame collided with the wall. Ash could see Talonflames desperate attempt to push through the Psychic attack.

"Talonflame keep going at full power" Ash commanded.

To everyone in the Chambers shock, Talonflames body became even brighter with flames. Talonflame with all its might pushed through the Psychic attack, but unfortunately the barrier had slowed Talonflame down enough for Gardevoir to dodge as Talonflame flew past her. But Gardevoir flinched and held her arm in pain. There had been so much heat coming off the attack it had caused mild burn damage.

Diantha had a look of mild surprise on her face but it quickly turned serious once again.

"Gardevoir, use Moonblast".

Gardevoirs expression turned calm. She gathered herself and she began to glow a bright white light. Beams of light began to come down from the ceiling and where being absorbed by Gardevoir. As more power began gathering inside Gardevoir, Ash knew he had to find a way of avoiding the attack.

"Talonflame, fly faster to avoid the attack" Ash commanded.

But Talonflame had sustained too much damage. He was trying his best at this moment not to fall out of the air. Ash could only watch in stunned silence.

Gardevoir opened her eyes and a beam of white energy that was so enormous and powerful that even people up on the balcony could feel the amount of energy coming off the attack. The attack collided with Talonflame. There was a massive explosion.

"TALONFLAME".

Through the smoke from the explosion Ash saw Talonflame crash to the ground. Once the smoke finally cleared everyone could see the result of the attack.

Talonflame was lying still on the ground, completely knocked out.

"TALONFLAME IS UNABLE TO BATTLE" the referee shouted into the mike.

Ash sighed, but he looked up once again with his usual optimism.

"No", Bonnie said. "They were just about to turn the battle around".

Clemont reassuringly put his hand on his sisters shoulder.

"Don't worry" he said. "The battles only just begun, Ash will make a comeback".

"Of course he will" Serena said.

Ash called Talonflame back.

"You battled great" Ash said. "You take a well deserved rest.

Ash returned his attention to the battlefield, and took out his next Pokeball.

"Hawlucha, I Choose you". Ash once again threw the Pokeball into the air and Hawlucha appeared on the field striking his usual pose.

Diantha's expression still remained as serious as possible. It was like she was waiting for something.

Ash smiled.

"This battle is far from over" Ash called out to her.

"Time for Round 2" he thought to himself.

"BATTLE BEGIN".

"Hawlucha, use X-scissor" Ash commanded throwing his hand out in front of him.

Hawlucha's hand sparked with red energy and with only one step blasted forward, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Diantha retaliated.

"Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir generated a shadow ball and flung it into Hawlucha's path. With little option, Hawlucha used the X-scissor attack, striking the attack into the wall, leaving a massive crater.

Ash prepared to call out another move. Diantha had used the Shadow Ball attack to stop Hawlucha in place. Because Hawlucha had to deflect the attack he was forced to be stopped dead in the middle of the battlefield. Though he was still in striking distance.

Ash yelled "Use Karate Chop".

Hawlucha once again lunged forward at Gardevoir, and slashed. But he had only slashed clean air as Gardevoir had once again dodged and was preparing to attack again.

"Shadow Ball"

The dark energy appeared in front of Gardevoir and shot at Hawlucha. The attack sent Hawlucha flying into the air.

Ash called out to Hawlucha.

"Adjust and use High Jump Kick".

Immediately Hawlucha refocused his stance while in the air, and came plummeting down foot first. Gardevoir swiftly monovered out of the way but was too late as the kick managed to strike into Gardevoirs side.

Not a direct hit, but a hit nonetheless.

Gardevoir shifted back to a safe distance while Hawlucha tried to pick himself up. The high jump kick had caused him to take recoil damage. Hawlucha still managed to assume a stance telling everyone in the arena that he was far from going down.

"Psychic" Diantha commanded.

Gardevoir generated another Psychic wall with such force that it had caused a strong current of wind to rise in front of it, exactly what Ash had planned for.

"Hawlucha, glide using the updraft to avoid Psychic".

Hawlucha assumed a gliding position and allowed the updraft to carry himself into the air. The updraft had lifted Hawlucha so quickly, that the Psychic wall completely missed its target.

Hawlucha was rising higher into the air. For the main strategy to work he was going to use the high altitude to his and Ash's advantage. From the look on Diantha's face Ash could tell she thought that being in the air would allow for faster dodging speed. But that wasn't Ash's plan as Diantha was about to find out.

"Hawlucha" Ash called out.

"Use Karate Chop on the ground".

Everyone in the arena starred in surprise. No one was sure what Ash was attempting to pull off.

Hawlucha launched himself at the ground, striking it with Karate Chop. The impact caused the ground to shatter around him launching several large chunks of rock into the air..

"Redirect the rocks at Gardevoir, with Karate Chop" Ash commanded.

Hawlucha leapt into the air, and slashed with all his might at several of the large chunks of rock.

"Gardevoir, prepare to defend" Diantha told Gardevoir calmly.

The rocks launched in Gardevoir's direction. Fortunately the first few were small enough to avoid. Gardevoir with such speed and elegance dodge most of them, her defensive stance never faltering. Luckily she did because where those rocks impacted, left massive craters in the ground.

But the biggest rock coming at her was too massive to dodge. Diantha had to stop it another way.

"Use Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir flung her hands out and generated a shadow ball to defend herself, just in time as the rock collided with it. The boulder sized rock shattered along with the shadow ball attack. Smoke enveloped Ash's side of the field, making it near impossible for Diantha and Gardevoir to see what was coming at them next.

"Use Flying Press" Ash yelled.

Before Gardevoir could register what was happening, a shadow jumped out of the cloud of smoke and struck Gardevoir directly landing on her causing her to fall face down to the ground. Hawlucha stood triumphantly having returned to the opposite direction she was facing.

"Amazing" Delia said. "Ash used the rocks as a distraction to get a more precise attack".

"That must have been what Ash had been trying to pull off the over day" Serena spoke up.

Oak was even more impressed by this. Both Professors knew how difficult it can be to pull off something like that, but it looked like it worked, at least for now.

Diantha, clearly not expecting that was quick to regain her composure.

"Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir looked noticeably momentarily stunned but she flipped herself back up and delivering a powerful blow, with a Shadow ball.

Hawlucha was knocked back causing himself to lose balance, flipping over and falling on his back.

"Hawlucha, get up" Ash called out.

Hawlucha tried to pick himself up, barely being able to not flinch in pain while doing it. He had taken to much damage. Ash clenched his fist. He knew Hawlucha wouldn't last much longer in the condition he was in. His hand instinctively reached for Hawlucha's Pokeball on his belt with the intent to call him back, but was too late.

"Gardevoir, Use Psychic on the rock fragments" Diantha called out.

Gardevoir closed her eyes throwing her hands above herself, Psychic energy rising around her lifting several fragments of rock Hawlucha had tried to attack Gardevoir with. The smaller pieces of rock collected themselves into larger projectiles.

Gardevoir eyes snapped open revealing them glowing with immense power, and thrust her hands forward sending the rock fragments racing at Hawlucha, who looked upon it with gritted teeth.

"HAWLUCHA USE KARATE CHOP TO DESTROY THE ROCKS" Ash yelled.

Without faltering, Hawlucha leapt into the air and brought his hand down on the nearest boulder, splitting it in two. But before he could leap to the second biggest rock, three of smaller rocks collided with Hawlucha. The speed at which the rocks were coming at knocked him back to the ground, bearly catching himself from falling face first in the dusty battleground.

"TRY ONE MORE TIME ON THE LAST BOLDER" Ash called out thrusting his fist forward.

With one final attempt Hawlucha jumped and slashed at the final bolder. The bolder fragmented into dust in a blink of any eye causing a loud crash to boom across the battlefield.

Hawlucha managed to return to a standing position, but apparent to everyone he was having a hard time keeping his balance.

Diantha didn't waste her chance.

"Moonblast"!

Gardevoir refocused herself holding her hands out as several beams of light gathered in her hands, her body glowing a bright white light. Much quicker than last time, Gardevoir blasted the giant beam of energy.

Hawlucha had no time to defend himself. The attack hit, causing another loud explosion to envelope the field in smoke.

Once everyone had adjusted there vision and the smoke had cleared they could see Hawlucha, on his back, completely knocked out.

Ash shocked expression could be clearly seen by everyone on the balcony.

"HAWLUCHA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE" the familiar voice of the Referee echoed.

Clemont was the first to speak up.

"This is unbelievable" he said.

"Hawlucha gave it his all, and even that wasn't enough".

"If there was a way to avoid Gardevoir's Moonblast attack, it could give Ash a chance" Professor Oak said with a hint of worry in his voice.

Bonnie turned and looked up at Serena.

"Did Ash say anything about the strategy he had been working on".

Serena didn't respond to Bonnie's question. All her attention was on Ash. Though Ash hadn't told her anything about what he was planning to do, she still believed that Ash knew what he was doing.

"Hawlucha Return" Ash said calmly as he recalled his Pokemon.

"You battled amazingly" he said.

But before he called out his next Pokemon, Ash stopped and looked over at Diantha. It wasn't his imagination this time. He could see that Diantha normal expression of being calm and collective had been replaced by an expression Ash could only describe as…. An expression of disappointment.

He quickly shook that thought off. He just had to keep giving his all.

"Goodra, I choose you" he said throwing another Pokeball into the air and releasing Goodra onto the field.

"Goodra" Ash said quietly enough so Diantha wouldn't hear. "Remember what we prepared for this battle".

Goodra smiled and gave Ash the thumbs up signal.

Ash smiled.

"Here we go" he thought to himself. If everything went to plan he may be able to do something that even Diantha wouldn't expect.

"BATTLE BEGIN".

Ash waited a few seconds before calling out Goodra's attack. He wanted to make sure this was executed perfectly, but he knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"Goodra, use Dragon Breath" Ash commanded.

Goodra took in a deep breath, and let out a massive column of a purple flame like substance in Gardevoir's direction. Diantha was prepared, like always.

"Psychic" she called out.

Gardevoir with her hands out in front of her, generated a shimmering wall of psychic energy. The dragon breath collided with the wall, and the flame was redirected towards the ceiling. A cloud of black smoke collected over the impact crater in the ceiling.

Diantha set her sight back on Goodra. Ash noticed this. She had the same smile on her face she had when he and Greninja battled her to perfect there bond. The look told Ash that Diantha was about to do something he wasn't expecting.

"Use Moonblast" Diantha spoke.

"Not Good" Sycamore spoke aloud causing the others on the balcony to turn to him.

"Goodra is a Dragon type" he continued. "Moonblast is a Fairy type move and Dragon types have a natural weakness against Fairy type moves".

"Diantha's clearly trying to finish off Goodra as quick as possible" Delia responded.

"Or maybe…" Sycamore continued but trailed off.

Gardevoir yet again began drawing in energy from the beams of light coming down from the ceiling.

"Not this time" Ash called out. "Goodra use Ice Beam".

Goodra once again opened his mouth and a white beam blasted towards Gardevoir. Gardevoir wasn't able to defend herself while generating Moonblast. The beam struck her in the knee. Gardevoir cried in pain and began to fall forward due to the damage to her leg, but managed to send the Moonblast attack, now at full power back at Goodra. But thanks to her losing her stance the attack completely missed Goodra, blasting another crater in the opposite wall.

Ash saw his chance. "Use Dragon Breath again".

Goodra immediately complied , took in another large breath and sent another column of purple flame at Gardevoir.

There was no chance of Gardevoir defending herself this time. She attempted to hold out her hands to block the attack but she was too late. The flame struck her, causing another mild explosion.

Unlike last time though, the smoke was immediately cleared away when Gardevoir thrust her hands out, presumably using Psychic to do so. Gardevoir seemed to be only mildly affected by the attack though.

Ash gritted his teeth. Gardevoir just wouldn't go down. After going through two of his best Pokemon, even with them managing to land a few attacks, she still seemed to remain at nearly full strength.

"Use Shadow Ball".

Ash quickly responded.

"Use Bide".

Gardevoir generated a shadow ball, blasting it at Goodra, who had began to glow a reddish aura. Shadow ball crashed into Goodra. Goodra cringed in pain but with a look of determination in his eyes, managed to stay standing. The power of the attack had now been absorbed by Goodra.

"Great job Goodra, use Bide again" Ash said grinning.

The red aura surrounding Goodra dispersed and gathered in a white ball of energy in front of him, and suddenly the white beam of energy was blasted back at Gardevoir. But Gardevoir had recovered from the last attack and yet again just appeared to step out of the way of the attack.

"No" Ash thought.

He should've known Gardevoir would be able to avoid the attack. He had been hoping the last attack would have been enough to at least slow her down, but that hadn't worked in the slightest. It was time to put his main plan into action.

"Goodra, prepare to use Ice Beam".

Goodra once again opened his mouth as the attack began to gather energy.

Diantha wasn't falling for it this time.

"Gardevoir, use Shadow ball before they can use Ice Beam".

Gardevoir understood. She held out her hands and another Shadow Ball began to form. But alas not fast enough.

Ash spoke again.

"Now use Ice Beam on the ground".

Diantha gave a shocked look.

Goodra let loose the beam of ice directing it at the ground. Immediately the ice began to develop and cover the battlefield. Before Diantha could command Gardevoir to release the Shadow Ball the entire surface that Gardevoir and Goodra had been standing on was covered in a layer of ice. This caused Gardevoir to lose her balance, and the Shadow Ball was blasted up towards to ceiling.

Ash clenched his fist in satisfaction. It went exactly according to plan. Gardevoir was definitely going to have a hard time dodging there attacks now. The icy surface was already showing its effectiveness. Gardevoir was clearly trying with all her ability to keep her footing, but it was clear to both Ash and Diantha that one sudden movement would resulting in Gardevoir losing her balance again.

Diantha managed to keep a calm expression and began pondering a way to use this to her advantage. She quickly saw a massive hole in Ash's plan. While it was true that the ice covered battlefield was putting her at a disadvantage, but it was putting Ash at a disadvantage as well, as his Pokemon were now just as incapable of out maneuvering any incoming attack.

She smiled to herself, deciding to wait for Ash to make the first move. Besides even if she did attack, Goodra could just use Bide again and send the attack right back at her. It was best not to take that risk.

"Goodra" Ash commanded after seeing Diantha wasn't going to attempt to attack at that moment.

"Use Dragon Pulse".

Goodra, while still maintaining balance, began to initiate Dragon Pulse. Goodra held out it's tiny arms and several blue and orange flame began dancing in his palms. The flames then merged into a pulsating orb and a blue beam erupted from it in Gardevoirs direction.

Diantha hadn't figured out her strategy yet so she chose to go on the defense.

"Gardevoir, Use Reflect".

Gardevoir gestured and created a shimmering screen of energy. But to Diantha's slight shock, the attack was so powerful that it pushed Gardevoir back several feet. The shield had held up though, but the Ice field was proving a bigger challenge than she'd originally thought. Ash had a look of extreme focus now. He had finally gained the upper hand. Now Gardevoir couldn't dodge his attacks and her defense techniques weren't holding up either.

Diantha though had been contemplating a way to overcome the ice battlefield. She knew if an intense amount of heat was concentrated on the field it would surely melt. She suddenly came up with the immediate solution. She smiled to herself. She would use Ash's strategy against him.

"Gardevoir, prepare to use Moonblast". Gardevoir glanced over at Diantha clearly hesitant, but she saw the look in her eyes, a look that said "trust me". Gardevoir turned back facing Goodra and raised her hands. Just like before rains of gleaming energy came down from the ceiling and began being absorbed by Gardevoir.

Ash was quick to respond.

"Goodra don't let Gardevoir use Moonblast".

Goodra responded immediately and started generating another of sphere of ice energy.

"Gardevoir move out of the direction of Ice beam" Diantha spoke calmly.

Surprisingly Gardevoir stopped absorbing the energy and being unable to walk across the ice, slid sideways across it, until she was out of the beams pathway. The beam hadn't been launched and now Ash knew he had to adjust the direction of the attack.

"Goodra, face Gardevoir and use Ice Beam" Ash spoke.

Goodra sighed and began to refocus his stance in the right direction. Gardevoir had once again began powering up her Moonblast attack again, and he had to attack quickly. Goodra was just a few steps away from Gardevoir. Then he wobbled slightly. He then slipped and fell face first on the frozen ground. Goodra yelped in pain, as he desperately tried to get back on his own two feet but by the time he had, it was too late.

"Gardevoir, use Moonblast".

Gardevoir opened her eyes and a white beam of energy blasted out from the front of her.

Ash only knew one way that could save himself.

"Use Bide again" Ash yelled out frantically.

Goodra pushed his hands out towards the incoming attack just in time before the attack hit. Another blast of wind and blinding flash filled the arena.

Once the brightness had dissipated and Ash had his vision back, he looked on in silent shock. Goodra was still standing, but Ash knew it wouldn't last. Goodra was breathing heavily cringing in pain. His body was pretty scratched up as well. But there was still a silver lining. Bide had worked, evident by the red aura enveloping Goodra's body and he was preparing to fire it back at Gardevoir.

"Now Goodra" Ash commanded throwing his fist out.

Goodra's red aura at once, gathered in front of Goodra like before and sent the energy of Moonblast in Gardevoir's direction. The attack had so much speed behind it that a loud boom was heard as it zipped at its intended target.

Diantha smiled. Exactly according to her plan.

Diantha called out to Gardevoir.

"Use Shadow Ball to defend".

Gardevoir formed another Shadow Ball, but this one was noticeably larger than the ones before, and above all else she didn't launch it at the incoming attack. The Bide Attack hit the shadow ball causing another deafening explosion and eruption of smoke. But this was unlike what would have happened if using the Reflect move. Reflect would have absorbed the axecess energy, but having it collide with an offensive move had caused a blast of immense heat that even from Ash's side of the field, he could feel.

The smoke like before cleared and if there wasn't enough for Ash to worry about, things had only been made worse. Gardevoir had managed to stop the attack reaching her but more importantly, the heat of the explosion had caused a large area made up of ice, which Gardevoir was at the center, to completely melt away.

Ash gritted his teeth. Diantha had played him from the start. Now Gardevoir could dodge with no problem while he on the other hand had Goodra looking like he was about to pass out from exhaustion, and also unable to move properly. Ash desperately tried to keep a calm expression as to not worry anyone up on the balcony observing. Not that they already weren't more worried than before. He was out of options. Why hadn't he seen this coming. There was only one thing left he could do. Ash looked worriedly at Goodra who was still breathing heavily.

"Goodra" Ash called out. Goodra turned his head at Ash giving him the best "Im okay, don't worry" look. Ash smiled. He couldn't express how proud he was of Goodra. Even after taking all those attacks, he was still giving his all.

"I need you to focus all your power on our next move, okay" Ash said steadily.

Goodra nodded at turned back to face Gardevoir.

"Alright" Ash said. He then jestured up at the ceiling.

"Use Rain Dance with all your strength".

Goodra began generating what looked like a large orb of water, that went from the size of a pokeball to the size of Gardevoir's shadow ball attack. Suddenly the orb compressed to a microscopic point and a tiny white beam from that point shot up at the ceiling and disappeared. At first nothing happened. But suddenly what looked like a heavy rain cloud began appearing high above the battlefield near the ceiling. Diantha then felt a raindrop landing on her cheek, then two, then three, and soon rain began pouring down.

"Why would Ash do that" Clemont said confused.

"What do you mean" Bonnie asked quizzically.

"Rain dance can be used to weaken fire attacks, but Gardevoir has no fire based moves" Clemont responded.

"Your right" Bonnie said glumly. "Also Ash told Goodra to put all his remaining energy into that move, why".

"I'm not sure" Sycamore said having herd Bonnie's question. But there question was quickly answered.

"Goodra, use Ice Beam" Ash commanded.

"That's it" Clemont said astounded. "The rain being generated by rain dance may increase Ice Beams attack power".

Goodra still under heavy exhaustion, began charging up Ice beam. But Diantha wasn't waiting.

"Use Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir generated another large shadow ball and flung it at Goodra as he released the Ice Beam attack. The Ice beam seemed to gain more massive as it froze the water around it causing it to gain more mass. The two attacks collided. For a moment the two attacks were caught in a deathlock. The Ice Beam at first seemed to push back against the Shadow Ball at first but unbelievably Shadow Ball smashed through, striking Goodra.

"Goodra"! Ash shouted.

Another cloud of smoke appeared from the impact.

The smoke yet again dissipated. Goodra was lying face first on the ground having fainted from too much damage.

"GOODRA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE" the Referee shouted into the microphone.

Ash was again speechless. In fact that's what was beginning to worry Serena, who had been trying to ignore the horrible feeling building up inside her. Serena had seen Ash at his lowest moments, but he still reacted the way anyone would expect. But this was different. Ash wasn't reacting at all. It was like the mere thought that more than half his Pokemon had been defeated by Gardevoir seemed to mentally paralyzed him.

"Come on Ash" she said to herself. She just had to remember that no matter how bleak the situation looked, she had to believe that Ash would pull through. After all he had never given up on her so there was no chance she was going to give up on him.

"This isn't good" Clemont said under his breath unaware that everyone had heard him.

Bonnie tugged on Clemonts hand.

"What are you saying, that Ash is gonna lose" Bonnie said worriedly.

Clemont immediately clamped up. He then sighed.

"That's not what I meant" Clemont calmly said squeezing Bonnie's hand.

"Ash still has every chance to win and I know he still has a plan".

Serena came into the conversation.

"He's right Bonnie, after all this battle isn't over yet".

"I hope your right" Bonnie said quietly before she and Dedenne looked back down at the battlefield.

"Goodra return" Ash said holding out Goodra's Pokeball as he returned to it.

"You gave it your all, you deserve a good rest".

He put the pokeball back on his belt. Ash knew he was in a tuff spot. Nothing seemed to work against Gardevoir, she just seemed to out maneuver or blast through anything he threw at her. Him hesitating for a moment caught Pikachu's attention who still remained at Ash's side. Pikachu began paw at Ash's leg to get his attention.

"Don't worry Pikachu, I'm fine" Ash said.

But as always Pikachu could see right through him, and continued to paw at his leg.

Ash then realized what Pikachu was now trying to ask.

"You want to battle next" Ash said smiling down at him.

"Pika Pikachu" Pikachu said determinedly.

Ash looked back up at Gardevoir and Diantha who still had that odd expression from before. Should he bring out Pikachu next. He was about to think he should, but than the image of Pikachu being defeated by Gardevoir in there last battle flashed across his mind. He still thought he should but that one thought had triggered a large amount fear. But a fear of what. Ash couldn't put his finger on it but that made him do something he rarely did. He refused.

"I'm Sorry Pikachu, I'm going to try a different strategy" Ash said before reaching for another Pokeball and tossing it into the air.

"Noivern I choose you" Ash called out.

In a flash, Noivern appeared on his side of the field, flapping his giant wings as rain continued to pour.

Diantha still had that quizzical look on her face. To tell the truth it unnerved Ash more than he was willing to admit. He had no idea what Diantha was thinking, but whatever it was, he couldn't let it get to him.

"Noviern let's battle our best" Ash called out.

Noivern turned his head in Ash's direction in response and growled with excitement and anticipation.

The referee once again called into the Microphone. The downpour from rain dance was still going strong as a crack of thunder echoed off the battlefields walls.

"BATTLE BEGIN".

"Noivern, Use Acrobatics" Ash commanded.

Noivern took to the air at breakneck speed, taking cover in the still thundering clouds above them, his claws and feets glowing blue ready to attack. Noivern then nose dived down straight into Gardevoirs path. Diantha responded.

"Reflect".

Gardevoir threw her hands out and generated another shimmering blue shield of energy in front of her, just in time before Noivern would have made direct contact. Noiverns clawed hands and feet smashed into the shield. Due to the speed of the attack, the force turned back on him and sent him flying back across the field.

"Noivern, try to rebalance yourself" Ash called out.

Noivern flapped his wings violently and luckley managed to regain some sense of what was up and what was down. He shook his head and refocused in Gardevoirs direction. Once again he started to fly and maneuver around the field, waiting for Ash to call out again. He didn't have to wait long.

"Use Boomburst".

Noivern grunted in agreement and began to charge up, his forehead began to glow with sonic energy. Luckley the charge up was a lot quicker than former attacks and a burst of sound waves blasted at Gardevoir. The sound of the attack hitting something was confirmed by a loud shockwave that send smoke up into the air, blocking Ash's view of the other side of the field. He couldn't tell if the attack had hit but due to how fast what happened next, it clearly didn't.

"Shadow Ball" Diantha Commanded.

The cloud of dust began to glow and immediately another Shadow Ball attack blasted through it.

"Noivern, use Dragon Claw" Ash retaileted.

Noiverns claws, now glowing green, countered by slashing the Shadow Ball just before it hit. The strike split the attack in two and sent them crashing into the opposing wall at the other end of the field. Ash wasn't wasting any time now. The shadow ball had cleared away the dust cloud exposing Gardevoir.

"Use Dragon Claw" he called out.

Noivern nosed dived once again, its claws still glowing green with energy. Noivern slashed at Gardevoir, speeding past her and returning to the air certain the attack had hit. But once he redirected himself to take another strike, he could see that she had completely stept out of the way and he hadn't seen it. It was that fast. Ash could see that attempting another attack like that had next to no odds of hitting. Noivern continued circling the field preparing to dodge another attack and wait for Ash's next plan of action. Before Gardevoir began to generate another shadow ball, Ash knew what to do.

"Noivern, Use Supersonic".

Noiverns responded and began flying in place, his forehead beginning to glow. Suddenly the energy was released, causing an ear piercing ringing to echo over the field. It was so loud everyone up on the balconies and even Diantha had to cover their ears. In fact it was so powerful that the stain glass window looking over the battlefield began to crack in several places.

"Focus it on Gardevoir" Ash yelled out to be heard over the sound.

By now the sound was so loud, Ash could make out the actual sound waves emitting from Noivern. Fortunately the sound began to die down as the Supersonic wave began focusing on Gardevoir, who was now holding her head trying to stay on her feet. All of a sudden the Supersonic reached full power and blasted at Gardevoir completely taking her off her feet, propelling her back and landing on the wet and muddy ground. Gardevoir began to pick herself up but just as she got to her feet she fell on her knees flinching in pain. She appeared to not be able to completely focus eye contact on her opponent and she was swaying from a sudden wave of vertigo.

"Supersonic worked" Clemont proclaimed his eyes sparkling. "Gardevoirs become confused, this can be Ash's chance to finally turn this around". Serena smiled in response.

"Go for it Ash" she called down from the balcony. Ash was already a step ahead.

"Go Noivern, use Dragon Claw".

Noivern wasting no time, Dived back down till he was barely a few inches from the ground and sped towards Gardevoir, his claws glowing green.

Diantha responded quickly.

"Dodge it" she yelled out.

Gardevoir still in a complete daze from confusion got back to her feet and just before Noivern could strike her she managed to step out of the way before falling back to her knees. Noivern shot by her but instead of returning to the air altered course and went in for another strike.

"Dragon Claw again" Ash yelled.

Gardevoir tried with her best effort to get back to her feet but she just couldn't recover fast enough. Noivern slashed at Gardevoir causing her to cry out in pain and sent her flying into the opposing wall.

"Gardevoir" Diantha called out in alarm.

Gardevoir fell down from the cracked wall, luckily landing on her feet. She was still having trouble keeping her footing but even after that attack she was still getting back up, refusing to go down.

"Alright Go Ash" Delia cheered.

"Yaaay, go Noivern" Bonnie squealed.

"Great Job Noivern, lets keep this up" Ash called out. But even as he said that he was still exhibiting extreme caution. He knew Gardevoir could take a hit but the fact she still seemed to avading there moves even when confused said volumes to him.

Diantha was also thinking over her next move. She hadn't expected Ash to land a blow like that, but no matter. Her main focus was trying to figure out a way to attack that could work. Gardevoir was still having a hard time staying on her feet, so landing an attack was going to be tricky. But she did have an idea, but it would have to done exactly the way she would hope it would. She looked out on the Battlefield at Gardevoir who shot her a reassuring look. Diantha smiled. She trusted Gardevoir more than anyone and Gardevoir had trust in her as well. She wasn't going to let either of them down.

"Gardevoir get ready, use Shadow ball" Diantha commanded.

Gardevoir clutching her head in pain and dizziness, managed to refocus herself in Noiverns direction. She began to generate a shadow ball, though much slower than before.

"Don't let your Guard down, Noivern" Ash called out. "Prepare to use Dragon Claw". Ash didn't tell him to immediately attack. He needed to know what Diantha was planning before going in blind. Gardevoir was just about to release the attack, and Ash had to respond quickly. Suddenly Gardevoir released the Shadow Ball attack before falling on her knees again, the orb of darkness fly straight past Noivern going right through the clouds above them. There was a loud crash. Ash wasn't hesitating now.

"Noivern attack no...".

Ash was interrupted by a loud crash as a large amount of debri began falling from the ceiling. The Shadow Ball had completely shattered part of the ceiling and there was no way to tell where it was coming from due to the rain clouds blocking their view. He wasn't going to lose this opportunity. Gardevoir wouldn't be able to generate an attack if Noivern moved fast enough. He had to think fast.

"Noivern use Dragon Claw on Gardevoir, but keep close to the ground.

Noivern obliged and lowered himself down a few inches above ground before zooming at Gardevoir his claws glowing green once again. Debri was still falling and Noivern had to do his best to out maneuver them.

Diantha was prepared though. Ash had done exactly what she wanted him to.

"Gardevoir prepare to use Moonblast".

Gardevoir once again picked herself up, closing her eyes, throwing her hands up as light beams started to gather around and be absorbed by them. Ash didn't know how long it would take for Gardevoir to fully charge up the attack, but he knew he had to keep moving. Noivern was zooming at Gardevoir making several sharp turns to avoid the debri. He was almost there. Noivern raised his claws ready to strike Gardevoir again. They were now a few metres away from each other.

"NOIVERN USE DRAGON CLAW" Ash yelled as Diantha called out "Moonblast".

There was a blinding flash, followed by the sound of an explosion, and blast of hot air that Ash had to adjust his standing position to avoid falling over. There was a sound of something hitting the ground hard. The light and the smoke cloud disappeared. Gardevoir was on her knees like before, but she didn't appear to have any other injury. Noivern wasn't so lucky. Moonblast had collided with him head on causing him to crash to the ground where he was now lying covered in mud, with the rain still hammering down on him.

"UNBELIEVABLE, DIANTHA HAS MANAGED TO DEAL A MASSIVE BLOW, EVEN WITH HER POKEMON SUFFERING FROM CONFUSION" the announcer shouted into the mic.

"Diantha must have planned this" Professor Oak said under his breath. "She knew that if she could get Noivern out of the air and up close, any attack she used would be unavoidable".

"I'm surprised that Noivern is still battling after facing off against that attack" Sycamore commented.

He did have a point. Nearly every pokemon Ash had used had gone down after or shortly after being hit by Moonblast.

"Noivern, are you okay" Ash called out in concern. Thankfully Noivern opened his eyes and lifted himself back to his feet. He was panting heavily.

"Can you still fly" Ash asked worriedly. Noivern responded by beginning to flap his wings and gradually lifter himself back into the air. Another crackle of thunder shot through the clouds above them. Ash thought over what had just happened. He couldn't believe that he let Diantha trick him into that position. She had intentionally caused that debri to fall to keep Noivern out of the air to use her strongest attack, with no chance of dodging. He just had to keep going, after all Noivern could still battle.

"Noivern let's keep pushing forward" he yelled.

"Use, Boomburst".

Noivern began to charge up his boomburst attack. Diantha and Gardevoir still holding onto their calm expressions, waited. Another loud boom erupted, and the burst of sound energy shot at Gardevoir.

"Dodge it" Diantha responded.

Before anyone could register what had happened, another explosion and cloud of smoke appeared were Gardevoir was standing. But it soon became clear enough to see Gardevoir had avoided the attack and was panting heavily, trying to regain her energy. She was still suffering from confusing but Diantha and Ash knew it wouldn't last much longer.

Ash called back up to Noivern.

"Get in as close as you can and use Acrobatics".

With as much speed as he could, Noivern began to fly at Gardevoir, but Diantha wasn't going to let that happen.

"Use Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir got back on her feet and generated another shadow ball, at a much faster pace than last time and flung it at Noivern.

"Use Acrobatics to destroy it" Ash commanded.

With his now glowing blue claws Noivern struck the shadow ball, sending it into the wall to the side of him, and gaining striking distance. Gardevoir had fallen back to her knees, trying to prepare for the incoming attack, but alas she didn't have the strength or time to get up before Noivern was mere inches in front of her.

"Gardevoir start powering up Moonblast" Diantha called out.

"USE ACROBATICS AGAIN" Ash shouted.

Noivern with his glowing blue claws and talons, slashed Gardevoir sending her flying into the wall, creating another thick cloud of dust. Noivern was panting in exhaustion as he, Ash and everyone else waited holding their breath in suspense. Then something strange started happening to the dust cloud. At first it looked like it was beginning to disperse, but the cloud began to shimmer and glow a pale pink colour. Ash immediately realized what was happening.

"NOIVERN PREPARE TO DEFEND YOURSELF" he called out. Noivern assumed a defensive stance, but before Ash could come up with a way to dodge what was coming it was already too late.

"GARDEVOIR, MOONBLAST" Diantha yelled.

Immediately the dust cloud reached such an intense brightness, no one in the arena could look at it directly. Suddenly a a massive beam of pale pink energy shot of the dust cloud, to which Noivern had no way of dodging or defending himself. The beam struck Noivern. There was a deafening boom, cutting off Noiverns cries of pain as another cloud of smoke filled the arena.

"Noivern"! Ash called out in shock. He got no response. The smoke soon began to fade allowing Ash to see what had happened. Everyone up in the balcony gasped.

Noivern was on his chest, covered in mud and dirt, unconscious. Not only that but Gardevoir had returned to her original position on Diantha's side of the field even after getting herself out of the wall she had been thrown into, but she appeared to have completely recovered from Confusion.

"NOIVERN IS UNABLE TO BATTLE" the referee shouted into the mic being quickly followed by another clap of thunder and lightning from the clouds hanging over the field.

"Noivern" Ash said under his breath before sighing and returned Noivern to his pokeball.

"You did great Noivern" he said. "You take a good rest, you've earned it".

He carefully placed the pokeball back onto his belt. He only had two Pokemon left and Gardevoir wasn't any closer to going down than before. Nothing he had tried had worked. Gardevoir just kept picking herself back up. Pikachu began pawing at Ash's leg. Ash looked down at his partner. He knew Pikachu meant well and if it was the beginning of the match he wouldn't hesitate putting Pikachu into battle against Gardevoir. But things were different now. Diantha had taken down four of his best Pokemon with little to no effort, and he and Pikachu had battled both of them one on one before and been defeated. Pikachu at the time just couldn't match Gardevoirs speed or power, and even after coming so far afterworlds Ash wasn't sure how well Pikachu could handle the situation. As much as Ash wanted to believe Pikachu could do it, that horrible sense of doubt that had been getting stronger over the past few days, just wouldn't let him.

"Sorry Pikachu, I have to try another way" Ash said with a pained expression. Ash reached for another Pokeball on his belt. He needed a Pokemon that could Match Gardevoir on every level, and luckily he had just that.

"Greninja, I Choose You" Ash yelled, throwing another Pokeball into the air. The ball opened and with a quick flash of light, Greninja appeared before him.

"Something's wrong" Serena said.

She had been focusing her attention on Ash, especially after that defeat. Over the entire battle with Noivern, something had been bothering her. Ash didn't put Pikachu into the match. She had witnessed first hand Pikachu's defeat by Gardevoir last time, so at first she could understand why Ash would be hesitant to put Pikachu onto the battlefield, but she knew better. Ash had never avoided a battle, even if the odds weren't entirely in his favor. That's what she admired most about him. It looked like Ash had chosen Greninja for the reason of him being the strongest. It made sense, but Ash would always save Greninja for last, so he could fight against a mostly weakened opponent at this point. In fact, the expression on Ash's face no longer had that look of high spirit but what looked like worry.

"You don't think Ash is gonna win" Bonnie asked panicked.

Serena waved her hands frantically.

"Bonnie"! Clemont spoke sternly. "I'm sure that's not wha…..".

"No that's not what I meant" she responded quickly. She went tight lipped for a second before sighing and turning her head back to Ash.

"I just got this uneasy feeling, that's all" Serena said quietly.

"It's okay" Sycamore reassured. He came over and placed his hand on Serena's shoulder.

"This whole battle has been so intense and now we're reaching the end, we understand how your feeling, we all feel the same way". Sycamore stopped for a moment before smiling at Serena, Bonnie and Clemont.

"We just need to keep cheering Ash on, no matter what"."He needs to know that he still has our support".

Bonnie face lightened up once again. "Yeah, your right". Bonnie jumped up to get a better view and started cheering Ash on. Clemont smiled weakly, trying to hide his concern as well. Serena knew they were all thinking the same thing but no one dared show it, but Professor Sycamore was right. The best they can do is keep voicing there support for Ash. Worrying wasn't going to make her feel any better or help the situation.

"We're all still here Ash" Serena said under her breath.

"You can do this".

"BATTLE BEGIN"

"Greninja use Cut" Ash called out.

Greninja responded immediately, generating a small blue blade, and rushed at Gardevoir. Diantha didn't hesitate.

"Use Shadow Ball" she commanded.

Gardevoir created a Shadow Ball between her palms and flung the orb in Greninja's direction. Greninja wasn't stopping, instead he increased in speed and leapt into the air. Just as he reached optimal height, Ash called out:

"Use Cut".

Greninja took the blue blade and slashed right through the shadow ball splitting the orb in two, completely avoiding it. Still in the air, Greninja prepared to attack Gardevoir who was now in striking range.

"Aerial Ace" Ash commanded.

Greninja's palms and feets glowed intensely and immediately launched himself at Gardevoir. Once again Gardevoir seemed to just step out of the way as Greninja slammed into the ground feet first, sending a small amount of dust into the air.

Ash called out to Greninja "Greninja move befor.."

"Use Psychic" Diantha said.

Gardevoir, using Psychic energy launches a wall of the Psychic attack at Greninja.

Greninja still recovering from the ground impact, wasn't quick enough to dodge. The attack hit Greninja head on and knocked Greninja back over to Ash's side of the field, though he was able to land on his feet.

For a brief moment there was no movement from either Gardevoir or Greninja. Ash could see that Gardevoir was breathing at a slightly faster rate. This may not be apparent to everyone spectating but with Ash spending this entire battle coming up short against his opponent, he could tell that Gardevoir for as strong as she was, was beginning to tire. Not by much but enough for Ash to notice. He quickly broke the silence.

"Greninja, jump and use Water Shuriken"!

Greninja leapt back into the air and with a flick of his hand, sent several Water Shuriken at Gardevoir. Diantha responded.

"Use Reflect"!

Gardevoir, with several hand motions created another protected barrier in front of her. Most of the Shurikens shattered on impact while others were deflected up to the ceiling. They shot straight through the rain cloud above the battlefield impacting the ceiling causing the room to shudder slightly. Diantha wasn't waiting for Ash to attack again and called out to Gardevoir.

"Use Psychic"!

Once again Gardevoir created another wall of psychic energy and launched it at Greninja. Ash threw his hand out and yelled:

"Run at the attack and use Water Shuriken"!

Greninja dug his heal into the ground and dashed at the attack with lightning speed, while beginning to generate another Water Shuriken attack. Greninja flung three shurikens into the wall but like against the reflect move, shattered on contact. Greninja didn't let up and continued throwing shurikens at the incoming Psychic wall. Greninja increases in running speed, and soon the shurikens were hitting the wall with even more force. Then suddenly the wall shattered as Greninja was about to collide with it. The psychic energy dispersed and Greninja continued onwards towards Gardevoir.

"Gardevoir use Shadow Ball" Diantha called out.

"Use Cut" Ash commanded.

Due to Greninja approaching fast Gardevoir was just about able to generate a Shadow Ball in her palms in time. Greninja holding another blue blade prepared to slash. The two Pokemon collided with each other, Gardevoir attempting to use the Shadow Ball to pivote off Greninja's cut attack. Instead the force from both of the attacks pushed both the Pokemon in opposite directions while trying to stay on there feet.

Both Pokemon had returned to their same stance and position as before. Both Greninja and Gardevoir were equally matched and neither one of them were stopping anytime soon.

Ash turned his attention to Greninja, both locking eyes. They both nodded to each other and they stared back at their opponents. Ash could feel the bond between him and Greninja increase in power. Ash smiled to himself. They were both ready.

"Diantha" Ash called out to her.

"Me and Greninja are going give everything we've got".

Diantha smirked slightly. "Bring it on" she responded.

"Let's do it Greninja" Ash yelled, both of them throwing out their fists in a synchronised movement. They both brought both their hands up to there chests and flung them outwards.

Immediately a field made of Water enveloped Greninja. The familiar red chrest appeared on his forehead and the field of water morphed and became a massive water shuriken on Greninja's back. Both him and Ash stood in synchronised movements waiting to see who would make the next move.

"AMAZING" the announcer yelled. "THE MYSTERIOUS GRENINJA IS ABOUT TO BATTLE IT OUT WITH THE STRONGEST POKEMON IN KALOS, THE SUSPENSE IS UNEXPLAINABLE".

"The real battle is just beginning" Ash thought to himself.

"Finally, I've been waiting for this moment" Clemont said out of nowhere. This exclamation slightly startled both Bonnie and Serena who's attention was on the ongoing battle.

"What do you mean by that" Bonnie asked with a familiar look of confusion on her face.

Clemont shifted the rim of his glasses smirking slightly. He then reached into his Pocket.

"The future is now thanks to science" he spoke as he whipped out what looked like a small tablet device with a small satellite dish on the back.

"Introducing my Portable Bond Phenomenon Sensory Device" Clemont said with pride.

"A what device" Serena asked baffled.

Bonnie sighed. "You really need to work on your naming skills" she said.

Despite her complaints Bonnie was still interested in what the device was for.

"Is that what you've been working on" Bonnie questioned.

Clemont, who's eyes where still gleaming through the lenses of his glasses, smiled at her comment.

"You're quite right" He stated. "This is a more advanced prototype than my previous attempts at creating a way to study Ash and Greninja's bond abilities". Both the girls looked pretty confused at this but Clemont continued.

"With this tablet, the radar can pick up any of the familiar energy signatures that both Ash and Greninja give off when they're both in there bonded stages, but it can also pick up both of their heart readings with no need for an external sensor".

Serena, hardley understanding most of what Clemont had said, at least was able to figure out enough of it.

"So the tablet allows you to see their heart rates, without them needing to wear one of the wristbands you used last time" Serena said trying her best to sound like she had a bit of confidence in her ability to understand what technological thing Clemont had made this time.

"Precisely" Clemont exclaimed once again as he switched on the device. The screen immediately lit up and the raydars LED began glowing red. It rotated in the direction of Ash and Greninja. The screen on the tablet flickered and two separate heart beat patterns appeared on the screen, the one of Ash and the one of Greninja. Both there heart beats were perfectly synced with each other.

"Readout is successful, all Reading data is positive" Clemont said. "Both of them are at full power and the levels are remaining steady" he stated.

"I hope your right about that" Serena said under her breath.

The thunder from the rain cloud echoed over the battlefield, as both sides prepared to attack.

"Greninja, use Cut" Ash commanded.

Immediately Ash and Greninja gestured with both their hands and Two blue daggers of energy appeared in Greninja's hand. Like before Greninja dug his right foot into the ground and used it to propel forward at breakneck speed, but at a much faster rate than before. Infact her was moving so fast that Greninja quickly became a blur, charging in Gardevoirs direction.

Diantha called out to Gardevoir in response to this.

"Use Reflect".

Gardevoir flung out her palms and created a reflective shield in front of her. Greninja at that very moment barreled into the shield. Greninja hit it with such force that it took a lot more of Gardevoir's strength to hold the shield up. Suddenly the shield began to fracture in the centre, but luckily for both Diantha and Gardevoir the effect of the Reflect move pushed Greninja away before he could completely break through. But they had little time to recompose themselves. For as soon as Greninja was pushed away from Gardevoir Ash called out to him.

"Keep going, Use Water Shuriken" Ash commanded.

Greninja once again dashed at Gardevoir as both him and Ash reached for the Water Shuriken on their backs.

"Gardevoir, defend with Shado…."Diantha began.

Before she could fully call out her full attack, Greninja with Water Shuriken slashed across Gardevoir's chest. The impact force took Gardevoir right off her feet and sent her tumbling in the opposite direction landing on her front. Diantha called out in alarm.

"Gardevoir, are you alright" she spoke clearly stunned by what had just happened.

Gardevoir who was still recovering from the shock of the attack, quickly picked herself up ready to retaliate.

"You can still battle, great, Prepare to use Shadow Ball" Diantha commanded.

Gardevoir rather than creating a giant shadow ball attack instead generated two smaller shadow balls in her palms, and unexpectedly charged at Greninja. Ash didn't hesitate.

"Use Cut to defend yourself" he called out.

Greninja and Ash both gesturing with their hands again, created two blue daggers in Greninja's hands and he too dashed at Gardevoir. The two Pokemon collided with each other and began exchanging a flurry of attacks, with Gardevoir using the two shadow balls in her hands to spare against Greninja's cut attack. Ash who was mimicking Greninja's movement, was a little confused at Diantha's strategy. She knew that Greninja was a better hand to hand fighter so why put Gardevoir in that situation when she couldn't greatly defend herself in close ranged combat. Greninja kept slashing at Gardevoir who was now starting to slow down due to tiredness. Ash and Greninja both slashed one more time. Gardevoir wasn't quick enough to fend off the attack and was once again directly hit by the incoming attack, propelling her backwards, but she was still able to stay on her feet. Diantha took her chance.

"Use Shadow Ball again" she spoke.

Gardevoir slammed the two Shadow Balls in her hands together, immediately creating one larger Shadow Ball, and prepared to fling it back in Greninja's direction. Ash wasn't going to let that happen and called out to Greninja.

"Use Aerial Ace to destroy the Shadow Ball".

The blue daggers in Greninja's hands dissipated and both his fists and feet began to glow as he charged back at Gardevoir. Just before she could launch the attack, Greninja jumped and struck the Shadow Ball, foot first. Another explosion erupted between the two Pokemon sending both of them tumbling back in opposite directions. Ash quickly clutched his shoulders feeling the damage that Greninja had just taken. His breath quickened as he called out to Greninja.

"Greninja, can you still battle".

Greninja luckley leapt back to his feet and nodded at Ash in response. Ash smiled in relief. Gardevoir had also managed to pick herself up. Diantha had an impressed look on her face, but at the same time there was a look in her eye that made Ash slightly worried. He had been trying to figure out what that look meant but he still wasn't sure about it. Diantha glanced at Gardevoir and they both nodded at each other as well. Ash and Greninja in response resumed a defensive stance.

"Gardevoir, Moonblast" Diantha commanded.

Gardevoir raised her hands and the same pink energy started coming down from the sky and began being absorbed by her.

"She's about to use her Moonblast attack, Greninja prepare to defend with Cut" Ash called out.

Greninja created another blade in his palm but only one and it was double the size rather than if he'd generated two separate blades. Gardevoir continued to power up her attack, the aura surrounding her becoming more vivid by the second.

"Use Moonblast" Diantha called out.

At full strength Gardevoir unleashed the attack. Three separate beams of pink and white energy erupted from Gardevoir and blasted towards Greninja. Not waiting for the attack to reach them first Ash called out to Greninja again.

Run at Moonblast and use Cut" Ash commanded.

Greninja charged ahead as the all three beams closed in, one at a time. Greninja using the blue blade, cut right through the first beam of light, splitting it in two and letting it crash into the opposite wall. The last two beams of light while coming at him head on where coming from both the left and the right. Ash synchronizing with Greninja took the long blue blade with both hands and , to everyone astoundment, broke the blade in half, now leaving two blades in both of Greninja's hands. Just as the two columns of light were about to collide with him, Greninja flung out his hands with the daggers, creating an X shape intending to have them shield him from the attack. The attack hit the the blades with a crashing sound. The force was so strong that Greninja had to hold himself up with all his strength. The blades were beginning to fracture, but Greninja stood his ground, Ash feeling the strain as well. However the blades though splintering were still holding up. Everyone in Arena stared down in amazement. Gardevoir's energy in the attack was draining fast and after a brief moment, the attack stopped.

"Greninja use Water Shuriken now" Ash commanded.

Throwing down the blue blades, Greninja leapt into the air and grabbed the Shuriken on his back. The Shuriken immediately expanded to more than twice its original size, and with one large slashing sound, Greninja with Ash following his movements, flung it down at Gardevoir.

"Quick Use Reflect" Diantha called out. Gardevoir threw out her hands and created another reflective barrier. The Shuriken collided with it, but it was clear to anyone watching that the attack may be too powerful. The shield, almost immediately, began to fracture, and then shattered.

There was a blinding flash and Gardevoir was sent toppoling backwards, landing on her back in the now muddy and soaked battlefield.

"Gardevoir" Diantha cried out.

Gardevoir slowly picked herself up off the filthy ground. She was visibly exhausted, breathing heavily and holding her right arm in pain. Diantha's expression was that of shock and surprise. Gardevoir shot her a look that Ash couldn't quite recognise. Diantha returned her glance, and for a brief moment the entire arena was quiet. Diantha then smiled slightly.

She then reached for her necklace and took it in her palm.

Her Key Stone.

"Gardevoir, let's end this battle" Diantha said under her breath. The stone in her palm began to glow and energy began pouring out of the stone.

"MEGA EVOLVE".

The energy began to envelop Gardevoir, activating the stone she had around her neck.

Ash looked on in shock at what was happening. He couldn't let Gardevoir Mega Evolve. He knew that if he didn't do something now then Gardevoir would not only regain alot of her energy but be stronger to. There was only one thing Ash knew that could take down Gardevoir, before the Mega Evolving process was completed. Ash glanced at Greninja. Greninja was breathing heavily and was trying his best not to give in and pass out. Ash shook his head in frustration. If he attacked now and his plan worked he would win, but if it didn't Greninja could be severely injured, due to not having enough energy to dodge any incoming attack that Gardevoir would immediately retaliate with.

"What's going on" Clemont said worriedly. He was still staring at the tablets screen which were currently showing him Ash and Greninja's heart rate.

"What do you mean" Serena responded. She looked other at the tablets screen. It still showed both of their heart rates but were beginning to quicken rapidly.

"Why is it increasing" Serena asked frantically.

Clemont responded with: "I'm not entirely sure, but these rates could be contributed to some form of stress, but not from the Bond Phenomenon".

He then turned back to Serena.

"Based on these readings, It's most likely due to Emotional Distress".

Serena leaned over the balcony slightly. She could see Ash's expression more clearly. He looked somewhat anxious, though trying to hide it. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way. Gardevoir was gradually changing into her Mega form, and due to Greninja's exhausted expression, she knew he wouldn't last much longer. But at the same time it looked like Ash was struggling with himself. He looked like he wanted to do something, but wasn't sure if he should. Serena immediately realized what he was thinking. Her hands began to tremble slightly as they rested on the balconies stone railing.

"Don't do it Ash" she thought desperately to herself. "The attack won't be fast enough to hit Gardevoir, leaving you and Greninja wide open for Gardevoir to attack you with not enough time to defend yourselves".

Ash was still debating himself on weather or not he should attack now. Gardevoir's mega evolving process was nearly complete, he needed to make a decision now. He had come this far and now he was at risk of losing the entire battle.

That thought was enough for him to make a split second decision.

He would not lose, he just couldn't lose.

"GRENINJA, USE WATER SHURIKEN AT FULL POWER" Ash commanded!

Greninja grabbed the newly formed suriken on his back and flung it up above him. The shuriken grew to more than three times its original size and transformed into an orange disk of energy, the same as what he created in there battle against Alain.

"What's Ash doing" Clemont said in shock. "If this attack fails then Greninja will be left wide open for Gardevoir to attack".

"And Gardevoir's almost Mega Evolved" Bonnie squealed.

Serena couldn't take what was happening any longer.

"ASH DON'T DO IT" she yelled, leaning over the balcony. But it was too late.

Greninja, now with his most powerful attack, and Ash mimicking his every movement, flung the enourmus shuriken in the direction of the still Mega Evolving Gardevoir.

For a brief moment Diantha's face fell in a look of disappointment. She then called out to Gardevoir with a level of passion that made everyone watching tremble in anticipation.

"USE SHADOW BALL WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH" She commanded.

Even though Gardevoir was still moments away from fully Mega evolving, she flung her palms out and another Shadow Ball was created. But this one was different. It kept growing in size at an exponential rate until it was three times its original mass and it was pulsating with raw power. Greninja's fire like shuriken finally collided head on with the Shadow Ball. The attacks were locked against each other. Random bursts of light and wind were erupting from the locked attacks. The Shadow Ball attack was large enough to stop the shuriken dead in its tracks and were both equally matched in power. The shuriken kept forcing itself against it but it wouldn't break. Gardevoir finally let out one triumphant cry. The mega evolving process was complete and she was now in her Mega Evolved form. With all her might she made one final pushed against the Shadow Ball she was defending herself with. The water Shurikens rapid rotating started to slow down….. and then it broke into a thousand pieces. The massive Shadow Ball launched ahead back at Greninja, who was too exhausted at this point. The attack struck him. There was a blinding flash of light and another cloud of smoke bellowed over the raining battlefield.

Ash clutched his chest in so much pain, he fell to his knees, panting heavily. Everyone up on the balcony could see what had happened. They all gasped in shock as well as the announcer. Serena couldn't hold back her tears as they began to drip down her cheeks, as she tried to stifle a sob. Clemont, Bonnie and the others all had a somber look on there faces. The smoke eventually cleared, and Ash managed to lift his head up for long enough to see the outcome. Greninja was lying on his side, motionless.

"GRENINJA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE" The referee spoke into her microphone.

Pikachu, who was trying his best to help Ash get to his feet, continued paw at him for some kind of verbal response. Ash was still taking slow ragged breaths, the strain from the bond being broken was weighing heavily on him. With his eyes shut, he slowly raised Greninja's pokeball, and with a red beam, recalled Greninja.

"You did your best Greninja, thank you" Ash said quietly.

Ash hung his head in shame, trying to register what had happened. How could this happen. In just one exchange of attacks they had went from finally gaining the upper hand, to being not only back where they started but in a near impossible position. Gardevoir was back to full strength, in her Mega Evolved form, and his strongest Pokemon didn't stand a chance against Diantha and Gardevoir's power. While all these thoughts whirled around inside his head, the one thought that pushed all the other thoughts to the side was….Why? Why had he attacked at that moment. Why didn't he wait for Gardevoir to make the first attack, in which he could've been more prepared for. The latter decision had very little odds of ending with the final attack pulling through. He knew the odds weren't in his favour, but he did it anyway, and because of that he had let Greninja down. The sense of shame and guilt was present clearly on his face for everyone to see.

Diantha sighed, bringing Ash back to reality for a brief moment. He looked up, catching Diantha's glance, a look of disappointment, replaced her normally calm demina.

"I felt this" she said. Ash stared at her trying to figure out what she meant by that. Diantha sighed again.

"From the moment you stepped into this arena, I could see there was something different about you". She paused for a moment before continuing.

"I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but after what i've just witnessed, my suspicions have been confirmed" Diantha said.

"Ash….. a true trainer is someone who looks beyond the battling to achieve victory, and does it not because they want to win, but because they know that battling is about building a connection with your Pokemon and the passion and trust they share with one another is a far greater prize than any title or prize that may be bestowed upon them".

"When we battled the last time, I thought I could see a trainer who believed in those ideals and above all….. wasn't afraid of defeat".

"The reason you did what you did, was because that very fear of losing, was enough for you to put yourself before your Pokemon". She paused for a second, before looking Ash dead in the eye.

"I believed that you were a true Pokemon trainer, worthy of the title of champion, but now…. I'm not so sure".

"Because as long as you let that fear of defeat control you, you will not only never be able to defeat us, but never achieve what you have sought after since your journey as a trainer began" Diantha said.

Ash let Diantha's words sink in. He didn't want to to think that what she was telling him was the truth. But deep down Ash knew that every word she had spoken was true. He was different. After everything that had happened over the past few days, from the dream he had to Pikachu's injury, he had felt different. At the time he didn't know what it was….. no he knew what it was but he just couldn't face it. He was afraid. Afraid of losing the most important battle he would ever face, the Kalos league in the end meaning nothing, afraid of an opportunity like this never coming again. And because of that he didn't put all his heart and soul into this battle, instead battling with extreme caution rather than battling without holding back, out of fear of losing. Ash's face fell.

The silence was broken by the referee.

"ASH KETCHUM, YOU MUST BRING OUT YOUR NEXT POKEMON, OR YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED" her voice echoed around the hall.

Ash didn't move. He still hadn't gotten up from his knees. He briefly glanced down at Pikachu who was still pawing at him in worry.

"Pika, pika, pikachu" he said. Ash knew what Pikachu was trying to say; put him out on the battlefield. Ash again glanced back up at Mega Gardevoir. Memories of Pikachu's defeat at Gardevoirs hand flashed before his eyes, as well as the dream he had. Another crack of thunder came from the rain cloud above them as rain continued to come down over the battlefield. He knew he had to call out Pikachu or he'd be disqualified. But he just couldn't bring himself to call out Pikachu. What if he made another reckless decision that would get Pikachu injured or worse. Gardevoir was just so powerful, and after defeating his entire team without breaking a sweat, along with the memory of Pikachu's defeat against both of them the last time, Ash just didn't think they could win. He clenched his fists. It couldn't end this way.

A long silence fell over the arena, with everyone watching holding their breaths in anticipation. After such an amazing display of battling, was it really going to end like this. Just as it looked like the referee was about to call out to Ash for the last time, the silence was broken.

"DON'T GIVE UP"!

Ash spun his head, in the direction the voice came from, the balcony. He saw Serena leaning over the balcony, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"DIANTHA'S WRONG, YOU'RE THE STRONGEST POKEMON TRAINER I'VE EVER MET" Serena yelled down to him. Serena could feel everyone's attention turning to her, but honestly she didn't care.

"BUT IT'S NOT JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE SKILLED IN BATTLING….. IT'S BECAUSE YOU INSPIRE PEOPLE…... YOU INSPIRE ME…..., TO LETS US SEE THE BEST IN OURSELVES AND IN YOUR POKEMON". Serena paused to catch her breath. Ash just stared at Serena, a mixture of surprise and shock on his face.

"WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES, BUT THAT'S HOW WE BECOME STRONGER….. YOU TAUGHT ME THAT… YOU'VE NEVER GIVEN UP ON ANY OF US ,SO DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT GIVING UP ON YOURSELF… BECAUSE I'M… WE'RE, NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP ON YOU".

She took one last pause, wiping away her tears before yelling down to Ash.

"NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL THE END"!

Another brief silence fell over the entire arena, even the referee and announcer were in a state of complete silence.

"SHE'S RIGHT ASH" Bonnie yelled. "WE'RE ALL HERE, AND YOU CAN WIN THIS THING"!

Clemont joined as well. "ASH, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT MISTAKES YOU HAVE OR WILL MAKE, WE KNOW YOU CAN WIN".

"GO ASH, YOU CAN DO THIS" Professor Oak and Professor Sycamore cheered.

Delia wiped a tear out of her eye. "EVERYONE HERE BELIEVES IN YOU ASH, NOW GO OUT THERE AND SHOW DIANTHA YOU HAVE FAITH IN YOUR POKEMON AND YOURSELF" Delia cheered alongside all the others.

Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's shoulder, an expression of pride and determination on his face.

Ash continued to stare in awe at the people cheering him on. He knew that he'd been able to help Clemont, Bonnie and Serena with the goals they all sought to achieve, but he never knew they thought that highly of him. That just by doing what he thought was right and what he loved, had such an impact on the people in his life. And now they were all trying to give back to him what he had unknowingly given all of them. Inspiration to pick himself back up and stand up against whatever lay before him, no matter how dire it looked. With the promise they would never stop believing in him.

He suddenly remembered something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the blue ribbon Serena had given him before the battle was about to begin. She told him that the ribbon was a symbol that would remind him while he was battling, that a part of her would be out there with him. He finally realized. Realized how important everyone standing in the room was to him. It all finally set in.

Ash finally picked himself up from the ground. Everyone held their breaths in anticipation. Serena was able to catch a glimpse of Ash's face. He was smiling. No, not smiling, laughing. The referee and announcer exchanged confused looks. Ash managed to pull himself together but the smile never left his face. Pikachu stared at him, and Ash looked back at him.

"Sorry I hesitated buddy, we're still in this" he said. Pikachu whooped with joy.

"Thanks everyone" Ash whispered under his breath. He turned his attention back to his opponents.

"Diantha" Ash said. Diantha stared at him waiting for a response, with what looked like a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"You were right about what you said, I was afraid of losing this battle and because of that I held back, when I promised you I wouldn't". "I understand i've disappointed you, if it were the other way around I would be too". Ash paused for a second.

"You may not think of me as a true Pokemon trainer anymore…. But I don't need anyone to tell me if i'm a true trainer or not…. because I know I am…. and I'm gonna prove it". Ash reached for his cap and pulled it backwards.

"It doesn't matter if i win or lose this battle, I know one day…. Someday…. I will be a Pokemon Master, and that is something I will never give up on". Ash slipped the blue ribbon he had been holding back into his pocket.

"There is one thing you were wrong about though" Ash continued smiling.

"That we could never defeat you two…. But in case you haven't noticed, this battle isn't over yet".

Ash finally called out:

"Pikachu I Choose You". Ash threw out his clenched fist, as Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder, and landed triumphantly on the battlefield. Diantha smiled modestly.

"Get ready Gardevoir" she said.

Everyone watching began cheering at the top of their lungs, especially Serena. She knew Ash wouldn't give up on himself so easily.

"AND WITH THAT BRIEF BIT OF DRAMA OVER.." The Announcer yelled into his microphone.

"..THE FINAL ROUND IS ABOUT TO BEGIN, WHO WILL BE VICTORIOUS, THE CHALLENGERS PIKACHU OR THE CHAMPIONS MEGA EVOLVED GARDEVOIR, WE'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT..".

Ash and Diantha exchanged looks of pure determination.

"..AND MAY THE BEST TRAINER WIN".

At last the referee's voice echoed over the still being rained upon battlefield, as both participants Pokemon prepared to attack.

"BATTLE BEGIN"!

"Pikachu use Volt Tackle" Ash commanded.

Pikachu's body erupted with electrical energy, and sprinted in Gardevoirs direction with each stride building up more and more energy. Diantha didn't even need to call out to Gardevoir. With one exchange of looks just before Pikachu was about to hit her head on, she just completely stepped out of the way, in what seemed a blink of an eye. Gardevoir turned to face Pikachu as he sprinted pass her.

"Gardevoir, Shadow Ball" Diantha said. In her palms she created a Shadow Ball and launched the projectile at Pikachu who was now trying to use the speed he gained from volt tackle to out run the incoming attack.

"Not gonna work this time" Ash thought.

"Pikachu, turn and use Iron Tail to deflect Shadow Ball" he yelled.

Pikachu immediately stopped in his tracks, turned 180 degrees and leapt into the air, his tail now encased in silver metal energy. With one slash the Shadow Ball is halted, before it could impact. With one clever flip of his tale, Pikachu sent the projectile right back at Gardevoir. Diantha caught her breath, she hadn't expected that.

"Protect yourself with Psychic" Diantha commanded.

Gardevoir began to glow with another dark shade of purple, and quick as a flash, threw her hands out creating a wall of Psychic energy just in time, as the Shadow Ball exploded against it. More smoke erupted from the impact, the force slightly stunning Gardevoir as she quickly tried to recuperate.

"Use Quick Attack" Ash called out.

Pikachu leapt out of the veil of smoke and at breakneck speed dashed at Gardevoir. Before Gardevoir could retaliate, Pikachu collided head first. Gardevoir yelped and almost lost her balance, but not quite.

Pikachu dashed past her after dealing the blow, waiting for Ash to tell him what the plan was now. To be honest Ash wasn't a hundred percent sure what strategy he was following, but he knew he was going with his gut. The battle so far had proved to him that just using his strongest attacks and hoping for the best wasn't working. If only he could find a more efficient way to stop Gardevoir from constantly avoiding his attacks. He did have one idea that he and Pikachu had practiced in secret the other day but it would require much more impact force. It was more likely the attack would work in this situation, with rain dance still in full effect. Ash breathed steadily. This would work, he was sure of it.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail" Ash commanded.

Pikachu nodded and began running back towards Gardevoir. He then leapt back into the air, his tail once again turning a metallic silver, preparing to strike down at Gardevoir. Diantha watched completely unfazed. Once again as the attack was about to hit, Gardevoir just moved out of the way. Iron tail smashed into the ground, causing cracks to appear on the battlefields surface. Ash wasn't stopping though.

"Iron Tail, Again"!

Pikachu did just what Ash said. He jumped again, attempting to strike down at Gardevoir again. Gardevoir following suit, moved out of the way, leaving Pikachu to crash into the ground again. Diantha was ready to call out to Gardevoir to use Psychic, but Ash had beaten her to the punch.

"Keep it up, Use Iron Tail again"!

As Pikachu launched himself into the air for the third attempt, everyone watching up on the balconies were really confused at what Ash was attempting to pull off. He just used the same technique three times in a row, and the first two hadn't even made contact. Pikachu used Iron tail once again, and just like before Gardevoir just stepped out of its path. Diantha wasn't going to wait for Ash to try again and fail.

"Gardevoir, Use Psychic" she commanded. Gardevoir, nodded and created another wall of Psychic energy.

Pikachu attempted to pick himself up quickly enough to avoid the incoming attack. He managed to get up and run a fair distance away from the wall, but he wasn't fast enough. The attack hit, knocking Pikachu over, but thanks to the distance he'd managed to make, only sustained mild damage, for better or for worse. He picked himself up again and turned to face Gardevoir.

"Use Shadow Ball" Diantha said. Gardevoir created another Shadow Ball and launched it at Pikachu, but this time both him and Ash were ready.

"Use Iron Tail to stop the Shadow Ball" Ash called out.

Pikachu sprinted forward again, his tail glowing silver once again. He jumped and with Iron Tail, cut right through the Shadow Ball. The attack exploded, and Pikachu being so near to it and his tail cutting into the shadow ball from the top of it, the force of the explosion gave Pikachu a boost that launched him higher into the air. He was so high he nearly reached the rain cloud above them. Eventually gravity took effect and Pikachu began to fall, picking up speed with every passing second.

"Pikachu, prepare to use Iron Tail" Ash called out. Pikachu quickly positioned himself, his tail growing silver once again, as he prepared for one powerful strike. Diantha guessed what Ash was doing. He was using the extra hight they had gained to their advantage, to increase the power of the impact when it struck Gardevoir. Diantha called out to Gardevoir;

"Dodge the attack"!

Gardevoir nodded and like she had before stept out of the way. Pikachu came charging down tail first, completely missing Gardevoir, instead smashing the iron tail attack into the ground. There was a thundering crash, as dust and rubble shot up from the impact area. But suddenly, a rumbling sound began emanating from the battlefield ground. Cracks began to appear and disperse amongst the three other craters and the one Pikachu had just left, on Diantha's side of the field, which had been left there after Pikachu's three failed Iron Tail attacks. The ground started to tremble slightly, as larger cracks kept forming all over Gardevoir's battleground. Just as the rumbling stopped Diantha's entire battle ground was covered in these cracks. Ash strategy had worked, but how effectively he didn't know. Only one way to find out.

"Pikachu, get up and use Quick attack" Ash yelled.

Pikachu leapt out of the crater, and dashed at Gardevoir, quickly gaining more momentum. Diantha didn't have time to process what Ash was attempting, so she quickly went with taking the defensive stance.

"Gardevoir, Use Reflect" She called out. Gardevoir flung out her hands, creating another protective barrier. Pikachu continued to dash forward rapidly. In another split second Pikachu crashed head first into the barrier. Gardevoir managed to keep the barrier up even with the force Pikachu had delivered, but she still struggled to keep it up. Suddenly the was a sickening cracking sound below her feet. The speed Pikachu had built immediately backfired on him, launching him into the air. The ground Gardevoir had been standing on collapse underneath the weight she had been trying to hold back. The barrier disappeared as Gardevoir lost her balance. Ash had an opening.

"Pikachu, Electro Ball" Ash commanded.

Immediately, Pikachu turned in the air, his tail now glowing and pulsating with electrical pulses. An Sphere of Electricity formed at the tip, and with his tail, flung it at Gardevoir, who was trying to pick herself up out of the rubble. The Orb smashed into Gardevoir, and with a sharp yelp, Gardevoir was sent tumbling through the mud and dirt.

"Gardevoir" Diantha yelled in alam.

Gardevoir landed on her back, breathing heavily. Slowly she began to pick herself up against, trying not to show the how much damage she had taken, even though Diantha could sense it. Pikachu managed to land on all four of his feet, back on Ash's side of the field. Neither one of them were stopping though, not by a long shot.

"Now Use Volt Tackle" Ash commanded.

Gardevoir finally managed to get back to her feet, though she was noticeably starting to suffer from fatigue, after all she had been battling from the very start. Diantha was now in a tuff spot. Ash hadn't been trying to hit Gardevoir, he intended to destroy the ground Gardevoir was standing on. Now her entire field was compromised. All it would take for another attack to hit would be just by standing on unstable ground. She had to find a way around this and quickly. She wiped rain water off her forehead. Pikachu's body once again lit up with electrical energy and began sprinting back in Gardevoir's direction. She would just have to end this battle now.

"Gardevoir, Moonblast" Diantha commanded. Gardevoir nodded in agreement.

She began to glow with an aura of pink energy as more of it began coming down from above her, gavering in her palms. The attack began charging but at a much slower rate than normal. Pikachu continued sprinting forward, picking up speed.

"Almost there" Ash thought to himself. Pikachu had reached the edge of their end of the field, where the terrain was now too unpredictable to cross, but they had both planned for this.

"JUMP NOW" Ash yelled.

Pikachu not stopping for a second, jumped ever so slightly and with the added momentum, launched himself at Gardevoir. Moonblast was just about ready to be let loose. It was just a matter of who would hit first. Just as Pikachu was about to collide with Gardevoir, she cried out releasing Moonblast.

There was an immediate burst of white light accompanied by a blast off hot wind. The circumstances made it impossible for anyone to see what was going on in the moment. And as soon as the blast came, it stopped abruptly. Smoke was still clouding the field, but thanks to rain dance, it cleared away much quicker. Gardevoir and Pikachu were still standing, but for both Ash and Diantha 'still standing' definitely didn't fit the description. Both of them looked exhausted, where both breathing heavily and were covered in dirt and scratches. It was now obvious to both Trainers that this battle was about to reach its end.

Ash stared out at the scene for a moment. He then grinned.

"Diantha" Ash called out. Diantha locked eyes with him.

"I just wanted to say… that this has been one of the greatest battles I've ever faced".

Ash continued,

"And it doesn't matter who wins or who loses, I want you to know….. that thanks to you….. I'll never be afraid to lose again" Ash yelled.

Diantha smiled. Then she said:

"Gardevoir, Shadow Ball".

Gardevoir held out both her palms, but unlike last time created two separate shadow balls, one in each palm, before flinging them at Pikachu. Ash was quick to respond.

"Use Quick attack" Ash yelled.

Pikachu began sprinting forward again, and with one quick motion, completely dodged the first incoming Shadow Ball, and then continuing on in the second ones path. With another surge of speed, Pikachu barreled right through the second Shadow Ball, as it shattered on contact. Diantha quickly countered.

"Use Psychic" She commanded.

Gardevoir, with all her strength created another large wall of Psychic energy, intending to use it to stop Pikachu in his tracks. The energy blasted back at Pikachu, who was still approaching rapidly.

"Counter, with Electro Ball" Ash commanded. Pikachu leapt into the air and with electrical energy surging at the tip of his tail, another Electro Ball was created. With as much strength as he could muster, flung the Orb at the newly generated Psychic wall. The Electro Ball crashed into the wall, both struggling to overcome each other. Suddenly for a split second, Electro Ball overcame the force of the Psychic wall, and blasted through it. Unfortunately the still approaching wall immediately sealed itself, and slammed into Pikachu. He cried out in pain and fell several metres before crashing into the ground. But Gardevoir was also unable to dodge the now incoming Electro Ball. With the crackling sound of pure electricity the orb crashed into Gardevoir, who was trying to use her arms to block the attack. The impact pushed Gardevoir back a few feet, while she tried with all her might not to pass out. Pikachu still showing his familiar defiance, slowly lifted himself back onto all fours.

It was all or nothing now.

"GARDEVOIR, USE MOONBLAST AT FULL POWER" Diantha commanded!

Gardevoir assumed her familiar focused stature. Suddenly hundreds of light beams began to appear out of thin air, as they all started spiraling down and around Gardevoir, all beginning to be absorbed. The energy around Mega Gardevoir was reaching such a limit, that she began to slowly rise off the battlefield until she was levitating several feet above ground and creating a full force of winds that kicked up the dust and rocks that littered the battlefield.

Ash looked on in amazement. Even the mere fact that he felt that way leaved himself perplexed. Gardevoir was about to unleash the final attack, and there was little he could do to stop it. He had been formulating a plan for this very moment but he never had a chance to see if it would be enough. Ash turned his attention back to Pikachu, who even after all the attacks Diantha and Gardevoir had tossed his way, was still refusing to give up. Pikachu turned his head to stare back at Ash. They both could see how utterly hopeless the situation was, but they both had expressions of pure joy on their faces.

"YOU READY FOR THIS" Ash yelled, trying desperately to be heard other the loud sounds of blustering winds and torrential rain.

"PIIIKKKAAACCCHHHUUU" Pikachu triumphantly cried out.

"GO, USE THUNDERBOLT ON RAIN DANCE" Ash commanded.

Pikachu with all his might leapt into the air, electricity building up around his body. With his familiar cry, a massive lightning bolt arched up from Pikachu's body, straight up into the swirling clouds above them. An ear-piercing crackle of lightning and thunder boomed out from the rain clouds. Immediately after the thunderbolt struck, several large lightning bolts erupted from them, striking down onto the battlefield. The puddles and the damp terrain caused the lighting to be conducted across the entire field while the lightning persisted. It was as if the clouds were using Thunderbolt itself. Several more Lightning Bolts crashed down from the clouds, but instead struck Pikachu. Immediately the lightning being conducted on the battlefield, began to redirect itself to the highest density of electricity around it.

Pikachu.

Gardevoirs was now glowing with a brightness so intense it was hard for Ash to keep his focus on it. Moonblast had now reached full power, and Pikachu was being powered up by the sheer amount of lightning coursing through him. The scene was indescribable. It was undeniable, that this would decide the battle and the title of Champion.

"USE MOONBLAST NOW" Diantha commanded!

Mega Gardevoir released all the energy into a giant energy beam.

"USE THUNDERBOLT NOW" Ash commanded!

With the lighting still connected to him, Pikachu released an enormous Thunderbolt.

The Moonblast beam and the Thunderbolt crashed into each other, creating an enormous blast wave so powerful that the stain glass window that had been slightly damaged, shattered into a thousand pieces. Both attacks were now in a lock, both trying to overpower each other while both Pokemon tried to sustain there attacks pushing themselves to their limits. Bolts of electricity were now flying out over the arena from the centre of the colliding attacks with the pulsating light from Moonblast making it almost impossible to see clearly at this point. Gardevoir's Moonblast attack pulsed once again, and with as much power she could use, gradually started to push back against Thunderbolt. Everyone spectating held their breaths. Pikachu was still trying his hardest to keep Moonblast at bay. His eyes began to roll from exhaustion.

"DON'T GIVE UP PIKACHU, I BELIEVE IN YOU" Ash yelled!

Pikachu's eyes snapped open. Moonblast hadn't reached them yet.

"LET'S DO THIS TOGETHER"!

"USE THUNDERBOLT AT FULL POWER" Ash commanded!

A massive electrical surge pulsated around Pikachu. The lightning bolt, still holding Moonblast back immediately doubled in size. The connecting attacks were now producing large lightning bolts surging around the arena. Moonblast, slowly but surely, began being forced back. It receded back to the centre point. Gardevoir looked like she was about to pass out from the strain of holding it off. The Moonblast beam pulsated one more time, stopping the movement. Diantha stared in shock and disbelief.

Pikachu cried out on last time.

"PPPPIIIIKKKKAAAACCCCHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"!

The Thunderbolt gave one last surge of power. In a split second it split right through the centre of the Moonblast beam, completely overpowering it, as the Lightning Bolt finally struck Mega Gardevoir.

There was an intense flash of yellow light, followed by an ear splitting boom, ending with smoke erupting up from the impact. The shockwave from the impact not only caused everyone watching to cover their face but also caused the Rain Dance move above to completely disperse and the rain finally stopped. The cloud of smoke was gradually disappearing but a lot slower than it had done before. The cruel irony.

Suddenly something became visible. It looked like small sparkes of electricity though no one could place what they were coming from. Diantha and Ash held their breath. Finally everything became visible.

Pikachu was standing up clutching his tiny arm, the excess electricity still sparking off him.

Gardevoir was lying on her back, motionless. Her Mega Stone flashed and she reverted back to her normal form.

There was a stunned silence.

"GARDEVOIR IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, THEREFORE THE VICTOR AND CHAMPION OF THE KALOS REGION IS ASH KETCHUM" the Referee shouted.

Serena, Clemont, Bonnie and everyone else erupted into applause.

"HE DID IT" Bonnie squealed hugging Clemont tightly which he reciprocated.

"THAT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST COMEBACKS I'VE EVER SEEN" Clemont cheered.

The two Professors clapped while exchanging proud expressions with each other. Delia was tearing up again.

"This is it" she thought to herself. "Ash, your all grown up… and I couldn't be more proud of you".

Serena was cheering along with all the others, not paying any mind to the tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was so much going through her head at that very moment, so much she wanted to say, but she knew she could never truly convey how she felt in words. But she didn't need to.

Ash stared at Pikachu. Pikachu turned around and smiled at him. Ash couldn't hold back anymore. He blinked away tears and dashed towards Pikachu. Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms, as Ash fell to his knees, hugging his best friend.

"We did it…. Pikachu" Ash whispered.

Pikachu didn't respond. He had completely fallen asleep from exhaustion. Ash smiled, wiping his still damp eyes. After all of that, Pikachu deserved a good long rest.

Diantha helped Gardevoir back to her feet. Gardevoir had come back to consciousness, though she had a look of sadness on her face.

"There's no need for that" Diantha said to her beloved partner. "You battled amazingly and you've made me very proud". Gardevoir teared up and hugged her trainer.

"It's alright, shhhhh" Diantha whispered. Diantha was so preoccupied with Gardevoir that she hadn't noticed Ash was approaching her with Pikachu in his arms.

"Is Gardevoir alright" Ash asked.

Diantha smiled. Gardevoir turned to Ash and nodded reassuringly.

"Well Ash I have to say, after that stunning display of passion and teamwork…." Diantha said.

"...You've done something that few people have done…. you've proved me wrong".

Ash chuckled. Then he said;

"I'm sorry about what happened during the battle, I don't know what came over m….". Ash was cut off.

"You have nothing to apologise for" Diantha said. She paused for a second before saying;

"Like your friend said, we all make mistakes, what matters is that you learned from them….. and i'm truly glad to know….. that my title is going to someone who I know is more than worthy of it".

Diantha held out her hand. Ash took it and they both shook hands.

"I look forward to the day we battle again" She said.

Ash smiled.

"So do I".

"You should probably go see your friends, I bet they're waiting for you" Diantha chuckled.

She was right. Just as Ash had approached Diantha, everyone up on the balcony had dashed back down to the main hallway and were now waiting for Ash to come back through the large double doors. It felt like an eternity but eventually the doors began to slowly open. The same bright light came through the doorway. Everyone saw Ash standing their, a look of pride on his face. But there was something different about him. He was clearly the same person, but he looked more confident, more mature.

And with that, everyone ran up to him.


End file.
